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BEN JONSON 

THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 



BEN JONSON 



n 



THE ENGLISH 
G%AMMA% 



Edited with Introduction and Notes by 
ALICE VINTON WAITE 

Associate Professor of English Language and Composition 
in Wellesley College 



NEW YORK 

STURGIS & WALTON 

COMPANY 

1909 



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Copyright 1909 
BySTURGIS& WALTON COMPANY 



Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1909 



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INTRODUCTION 

In teaching the History of the English Language, 
I have looked in vain for a more available copy of 
Ben Jonson's English Grammar than that found in 
his collected works. A production so peculiarly 
distinct from The Hue and Cry after Cupid, or the 
Pindaric Ode, seems to call for a volume to itself. 
And the student of the history of English certainly 
needs it, as the grammar of the best standing for 
the seventeenth century. 

Jonson's editors, William Gifford and Francis 
Cunningham, tell us that the Grammar might have 
been more complete if his first prepared grammar 
and his large collection of early grammars, Welsh 
and Saxon, as well as Latin and Greek, had not 
been "destroyed by the conflagration of his study." 
The extant grammar was published in 1640, three 
years after Jonson died, so that it stands without 
his proof correction. 

Fragmentary and unsatisfactory it certainly is; 
and yet with all its omissions and incompleteness, 
we cannot spare it. Though we may find his 
reference to the Latin as authority for our alphabet, 
phonetically as well as orthographically, somewhat 
tedious and of doubtful value ; though we may be 
a little impatient of his consideration of English as 
written for foreigners, and wish that his notes 
on syntax were fuller; still this grammar attracts 



vi INTRODUCTION 

the student by its sturdy effort to write down the 
honest truth about the English language in the 
seventeenth century, so far as known or reducible 
to system. And if, in his desire "to free it from 
the opinion of rudeness and barbarism/' Jonson 
has not given us the complete treatment of the 
syntactical license of Elizabethan English, we are 
grateful for such record of sixteenth century Eng- 
lish as is given. It is a milestone in the History 
of English Language. It marks a stage not other- 
wise noted by Elizabethan writers, or by the stu- 
dents of the Stuart reigns. For the student of the 
development of our language it is a helpful docu- 
ment of that period; and for the general student 
watching the drift of language from Chaucer to 
Henry James, this Grammar of Ben Jonson is a 
monument not to be passed by. 

Beginning with the alphabet, Jonson examines 
source after source of the elements of speech, from 
the Latin and Greek grammarians, and in some 
cases compares his Latin authorities with what 
Smithus has found in the Anglo-Saxon ; thus try- 
ing to establish our vowels and consonants on a 
firm foundation. His many quotations from Scal- 
iger, Terentianus and Quinctilian look learned and 
imposing, and perhaps it is a pity to translate the 
Latin, exposing some false etymologies and out- 
worn theories ; but if this Grammar is to be service- 
able to the modern student, experience teaches us 
that we must unlock what lies concealed in Latin. 
And lest it seem more valuable than it really is, 



INTRODUCTION vii 

I offer a translation of the frequent Latin quota- 
tions in the first four chapters, and restore the 
Latin to its original position in the folio of 1640, 
where it stands on the page opposite the English 
text. This equality in position, rather than the 
footnote position, would seem to represent the 
mental attitude of the scholars of the age, Jonson 
and Bacon : Bacon rendering his essays in Latin 
that they might be enduring to posterity ; Jonson 
supporting every statement on the formation of the 
English language by Latin authority. In his 
Discoveries, his most personal writing, we see how 
entirely Jonson's task was governed by his classical 
reading. As grammars, the Latin and the Greek 
are the only authorities worth quoting. The modern 
tongues, French, German and Italian, furnish a 
body of material only for comparison with the Eng- 
lish, and all are mere usage. Though Jonson 
quotes Smith on the usage of the Anglo-Saxon, it 
is of a remote ancestry, and that somewhat barbaric. 
According to a note by Cunningham he had a Saxon 
grammar and a Welsh, but there is no evidence 
that he had made any research into the Saxon, or 
had any further knowledge than his reference to 
the runes for th and w. We may notice throughout 
the Grammar, aside from the direct quotations, how 
much Jonson's thought followed the bent given by 
his classical reading ; as in his adherence to syllabe 
for syllable ; his elaborate pun on breath and spirit 
(Chapter 4. H.) ; his close of Chapter 16, Book I, 
endeavoring to bring the English to the equality 



viii INTRODUCTION 

of Latin and Greek in rhythm. This last also 
recalls the efforts of the Areopagus and may be but 
an echo from Spenser's and Harvey's school of 
poetry. 

If the Grammar were so closely modeled on the 
Latin in all its parts, and if the native genius of 
Jonson did not overtop his classical studies, giving 
vitality to his work, the book might perish without 
any one's lifting a voice to call it back from ob- 
livion. But even in the discussion of letters as 
letters, we are struck by the lively play of figure, 
invigorating his style. It is the .same vivid person- 
ality which turns his Discoveries from a mere com- 
monplace book of quotations into a commentary on 
the literary times that is a significant part of Ben 
Jonson himself. So in Chapter 4, in considering 
the reduplication of sounds in c, q y k, he breaks 
forth in figure. IC Q is a letter we might very well 
spare in our alphabet, if we would but use the 
serviceable k as he should be, and restore him to 
the reputation he had with our forefathers. For 
the English Saxons knew not this halting Q with 
her waiting woman u after her." "W has the 
seat of a consonant." The letter H may not be "the 
queen-mother of consonants ; yet she is the life and 
quickening of them." So too, "Time and person 
are the right and left hand of a verb." The first 
conjugation is "the common inn to lodge every 
stranger and foreign guest." "I would ask to 
enjoy another character." And twice Jonson uses 
the figure translated from Scaliger that prosody 



INTRODUCTION ix 

and grammar are diffused like blood and spirits 
through the whole (Book I, Chapter i ; Book II, 
Chapter 9). 

The Board of Simplified Spelling in our own day 
could not speak more strongly than Jonson does 
of our "pseudography" ; the unphonetic quality of 
some of our superfluous letters, and the overworked 
part that others play; as in his remarks quoted 
above on q and k and his severe comment on the 
illogical nature of our orthography, though he has 
no hope that it can be amended. Of mickle, 
pickle, he writes, "which were better written with- 
out the c, if that which we have received for 
orthography would yet be contented to be altered. 
But that is an emendation rather to be wished than 
hoped for, after so long a reign of ill custom among 
us." Again, of gh in cough, might, he recalls our 
present spelling reform. "For the g sounds noth- 
ing," he says, "only the writer was at leisure to add 
a superfluous letter, as there are too many in our 
pseudography." 

In his observations on syntax, Jonson makes some 
points developed by later students of usage, though 
he fails to carry them out. He notes that order is 
a governing principle of syntax; but he merely 
notes the fact, adding little to his incidental com- 
ment in the Discoveries, "Order helps much to 
perspicuity as confusion hurts." And in the agree- 
ment of pronouns with nouns (Book II, Chapter 2) 
he says, "And in this construction (as also through- 
out the whole English Syntax) order and the plac- 



x INTRODUCTION 

ing of words is one special thing to be observed. " 
"The syntax of conjunctions is in order only/' To 
show how order is a governing principle of syntax 
was left to the nineteenth century. 

Jonson gives us a different perspective on the 
passing of some forms that we have been inclined 
to relegate to Chaucer's day. If there was in the 
seventeenth century a chance of holding to -en for 
the plural of the verb, the passing of that form 
seems within easy call. "In former times," writes 
Jonson, Chapter 16, Of a Verb, "till about the reign 
of Henry VIII they (plurals) were wont to be 
formed by adding -en ; thus loven, sayen, com- 
plainen. But now (whatsoever is the cause) it 
hath grown quite out of use, and that other so gen- 
erally prevailed that I dare not set this afoot again ; 
albeit (to tell you my opinion) I am persuaded that 
the lack hereof well considered will be found a 
great blemish to our tongue. For seeing time and 
person be, as it were, the right and left hand of a 
verb, what can the maiming bring else, but a lame- 
ness of the whole body?" Though he writes thus 
strongly in favor of the old plural, Jonson himself 
did not fly in the face of a custom already estab- 
lished, even though recently, to the extent of using 
the -en plural of verbs in his plays with the freedom 
that Shakespeare did. Had the eighteenth century 
writers kept sight of Ben Jonson's Grammar they 
need not have gone astray after their possessives as 
they did. "The Genitive plural is all one with the 
plural absolute," which Jonson writes without an 



INTRODUCTION xi 

apostrophe ; then he adds an exception not enforced 
by later usage, and subjoins, "Which distinction not 
observed brought in first the monstrous syntax of 
the pronoun his joining with a noun betokening a 
possessor; as the prince his house, for the princes 
house." Writing on this same subject, Professor 
Lounsbury says : "A somewhat peculiar use of his 
to take the place of the ending of the genitive case 
developed itself in Old English, and prevailed some- 
what extensively in the early portion of the Modern 
English Period. We can see it exemplified in the 
following passage from Shakespeare's fifty-fifth 
Sonnet, 

' Nor Mars his sword nor War's quick fire shall burn 
The living record of your memory.' 

Traces of this usage can be discovered even in 
Anglo-Saxon. In the first text of Layamon, writ- 
ten about 1 200, it occurs rarely, but is frequently 
found in the second text, supposed to be about 
fifty years later. But it was not till the sixteenth 
century that it began to appear often/' — T. R. 
Lounsbury: English Language, p. 281. 

Ben Jonson's Grammar is interesting then to 
the present age, not only for what it classifies as the 
practice of the time, but as in itself giving "the 
abstract of the time." "Little more than a rough 
draft," it yet furnishes an invaluable document of 
English as far as it was then reduced to a system, 
and I present it to students with as little hindrance 
as possible to their reading, bearing only in mind 
the words of Jonson in his Discoveries : "The office 



xii INTRODUCTION 

of a true critic or censor is not to throw by a letter 
anywhere or damn an innocent syllabe, but lay the 
words together and amend them; judge sincerely 
of the author, and his matter, which is the sign of 
solid and perfect learning in a man." 

I have used the text as found in the third volume 
of the Works of Ben Jonson, edited by Francis Cun- 
ningham, with amendments on William Gifford's 
edition, and published by Chatto and Windus, Lon- 
don. I have compared the work throughout with 
the text of the folio of 1640, as seen in the library 
of Harvard College, and the changes of text ar- 
rangement that I have made have been in accord- 
ance with the arrangement in the folio, and hence, 
in most cases, have merely restored the proportion 
of Latin and English, as they appeared to Jonson, 
taking the Latin out of the footnotes, and placing 
it in the page. The early spellings, as presenting 
still further obscurities, of borne for born, wee for 
we, I have not restored. 

Alice Vinton Waite. 
November, 1908, 



The English Grammar 

Made by Ben Jonson for the benefit of 

all Strangers out of his observation 

of the English Language now 

spoken and in use 



Consuetudoy certissima loquendi magistra, utendumque 
plane sermone, ut nummOy cut publica forma est 

—Quinctil. 



Printed M. DC. XL 



Non obstant hae disciplinae per illas euntibus sed circa 
illas haerentibus. 

— Quinctil. 

Major adhuc restat labor, sed sane sit cum venia, si gratia 
carebit: boni enim artificis partes sunt, quam paucissima 
possit omittere 

— Scalig. lib. I. c. 25. 

Neque enim optimi artificis est, omnia persequi. 

— Gallenus. 

Expedire grammatico, etiam, si quaedam nesciat. 

—Quinctil. 



THE PREFACE 

The profit of Grammar is great to strangers, who 
are to live in communion and commerce with us, 
and it is honourable to ourselves : for by it we 
communicate all our labours, studies, profits, with- 
out an interpreter. 

We free our language from the opinion of rude- 
ness and barbarism, wherewith it is mistaken to be 
diseased : we shew the copy of it, and matchableness 
with other tongues ; we ripen the wits of our own 
children and youth sooner by it, and advance their 
knowledge. 

Confusion of language, a Curse. 
Experience breedeth Art : Lack of Experience, 

Chance. 

Experience, Observation, Sense, Induction, are 
the four triers of arts. It is ridiculous to teach 
anything for undoubted truth, that sense and 
experience can confute. wSo Zeno disputing of 
Quies, was confuted by Diogenes, rising up and 
walking. 

In grammar, not so much the invention, as the 
disposition is to be commended : yet we must re- 
member that the most excellent creatures are not 
ever born perfect ; to leave bears and whelps, and 
other failings of nature. 
i 1 



2 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Jul. Caesar Scaliger de caus. Ling. Lat. 

Grammatici unus finis est recte loqui. Neque 
necesse habet scribere. Accidit enim scriptura 
voci, neque aliter scribere debemus, quam loquamur. 1 
— Ramus in definit. pag. 30. 

Grammatica est ars bene loquendi. 2 

Veteres, ut Varro, Cicero, Quinctilianus, Etymol- 
ogiam in notatione vocum statuere. 3 

Dictionis natura prior est, posterior orationis. 
Ex usu veterum Latinorum, Vox, pro dictione 
scripta accipitur: quoniam vox esse possit. Est 
articulata, quae scripto excipi, atque exprimi valeat : 
inarticulata quaenon. Articulata vox dicitur, qua 
genus humanum utitur distinctim a caeteris animal- 
ibus, quae muta vocantur: non, quod sonum non 
edant ; sed quia soni eorum nullis exprimantur 
proprie literarum notis. 4 — Smithus de recta, et 
emend L. Latin script. 

1 The one purpose of grammar is to speak correctly, nor 
does it require writing. For the writing is dependent on 
the voice, nor should we write differently from what we 
speak. 

2 The art of grammar is to speak well. 

s The ancients, Varro, Cicero, Quinctilian, held that 
etymology lay in designating the meaning and derivation of 
tones. - 

4 The nature of speech comes first ; of oratory later. 
According to the use of the ancient Latins, Voice is ac- 
cepted for the written speech ; since this can be vocal. 
There is the articulate, which can be taken from writing 
and expressed; the inarticulate, which can not be ex- 
pressed. Speech is said to be articulate as used by the 
human race in distinction from all other animals, which 
are called dumb; not because they have no sound, but 
because their sounds can not be duly expressed by any 
characters in writing. 



The English Grammar 

CHAP. I. 

OF GRAMMAR, AND THE PARTS 

Grammar is the art of true and well-speaking a 
language: the writing is but an Accident. 



Etymology ) ^.^ ^ 
Syntax J 



The parts of Grammar are 

the true notation of words. 
Syntax j I the right ordering of them. 

A word is a part of speech, or note, whereby a 
thing is known, or called ; and consisteth of one or 
more syllabes. 

A syllabe 1 is a perfect sound in a word, and con- 
sisteth of one or more letters. 

A letter is an indivisible part of a syllabe whose 
prosody, or right sounding is perceived by the 
power; the orthography, or right writing, by the 
form. 

Prosody and orthography are not parts of gram- 
mar, but diffused like the blood and spirits through 
the whole. 

1 Syllabe gives Jonson's close adherence to the Latin 
form, syllaba. King James uses the form also in his 
Reulis and Cautelis to be observit and eschewit in Scottis 
Poesie, 1585. (Arber's Reprint, 1869.) 

3 



4 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Syllaba est elementum sub accentu. 1 — Sealig., 
lib. 2. 

Litera est pars dictionis indivisibilis. Nam quam- 
quam sunt literae quaedam duplices, una tamen 
tantum litera est, sibi quaequae sonum unum cer- 
tum servans. 2 — Scalig, 

Et Smithus, ibid. Litera pars minima vocis 
articulatae. 3 

Natura literae tribus modis intelligitur ; nomine, 
quo pronunciatur ; potestate, qua valet; iigura qua 
scribitur. At potestas est sonus ille, quo pronun- 
ciari, quern etiam figura debet imitari ; ut his Pro- 
sodiam Orthographia sequatur. 4 — Asper. 

Prosodia autem, et Orthographia partes non 
sunt ; sed, ut sanguis, et spiritus per corpus 
universum fusae. 5 — Seal, ut supra. Ramus, pag. 31. 



1 A syllable is an element receiving accent. 

2 A letter is an indivisible element of speech. For al- 
though there are certain double letters, nevertheless one 
letter is only so much as has a definite sound to itself. 

8 And Smith also bears witness. A letter is the least 
part of articulate speech. 

4 The nature of letters is understood in three ways : by 
name, as pronounced ; by its power, how much it is worth ; 
by form, how it is written. But the power is that sound 
by which it is pronounced, which also the form ought to 
imitate ; so for these reasons Orthography should follow 
Prosody. 

5 Moreover Prosody and Orthography are not parts, but 
diffused as the blood and spirits through the body as a 
whole. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 5 

Litera, a lineando ; unde, linere, lineaturae, literae, 
et liturae. Neque enim a lituris literae quia dele- 
rentur; prius enim factae, quam deletae sunt. At 
formas potius, atque owtas rationem, quam inter- 
itus, habeamus. 1 — Seal. ibid. 

Litera genus quoddam est, cujus species primariae 
duae vocalis et consonans, quarum natura, et con- 
stitute non potest percipi, nisi prius cognoscantur 
differentiae formales, quibus factum est, ut inter se 
non convenirent. 2 — Seal. ibid. 

Literae differentia generica est potestas, quam 
nimis rudi consilio veteres Accidens appellarunt. 
Est enim forma quaedam ipse flexus in voce, quasi 
in materia, propter quern flexum fit ; ut vocalis per 
se possit pronunciari : Muta non possit. Figura 
autem est accidens ab arte institutum ; potestque 
attributa mutari. 3 — Jul. Caes. Seal, ibidem. 



1 The word letter is derived from drawing a line ; 
whence we have, to line, lineaments, letters and erasures 
(liturae). For letters are not from liturae (smearings on 
wax) because they are to be destroyed; for letters are 
made before they are erased. Then let us have a reason 
for their form and being, rather than for their destruction. 

2 Letter is a certain genus, as it were, whose species are 
two elements, vowel and consonant, whose nature and 
make-up can not be perceived unless one first learns the 
differences in form by means of which they have been 
kept distinct. 

8 The power of a letter is its generic difference, which 
the Ancients too crudely called Accident. For a certain 
form is itself an inflection in the voice, as it were in the 
matter, on account of which inflection it results that a 
vowel can be pronounced by itself : a Mute can not. But 
the figure is an accident, formed by art, and can be changed. 



CHAPTER II 
OF LETTERS AND THEIR POWERS 

In our language we use these twenty and four 
letters, A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. K. L. M. N. O. 
P. Q. R. S. T. V. W. X. Y. Z. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. 
h. i. k. 1. m. n. o. p. q. r. s. t. v. w. x. y. z. The 
great letters serve to begin sentences, with us, to 
lead proper names, and express numbers. The less 
make the fabric of speech. 

Our numeral letters are 



I 1 


r i 


v | 


1 5 


x | 


IO 


L \ iox < 


SO 


C 1 


IOO 


D | 


500 


MJ 


^IOOO 



All letters are either vowels or consonants; and are 
principally known by their powers. The hgure is 
an Accident. 

A vowel will be pronounced by itself; a consonant 
not without the help of a vowel, either before or 
after. 

The received vowels in our tongue are, 
a. e. i. o. u. 

Consonants be either mutes, and close the sound, 
as b. c. d. g. k. t. q. t. Or half vowels, and open 
it, as f. 1. m. n. r. s. x. z. 

H is rarely other than an aspiration in power, 
though a letter in form. 

W and Y have shifting and uncertain seats as 
shall be shown in their places. 

6 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 7 

De vi, ac potestate literarum tarn accurate scrip- 
serunt Antiqui quam de quavis alia suae professionis 
parte. Elaborarunt in hoc argumento Varro, 
Priscianus, Appion, ille, qui cymbalum dicebatur 
mundi : et inter rhetores non postremi judicii, 
Dionysius Halicarnassaeus, Caius quoque Caesar, 
et Octavius Augustus. 1 — Smith, ibid. 

Literae, quae per seipsas possint pronunciari, 
vocales sunt ; quae non, nisi aliis, consonantes. 

Vocalium nomina simplici sono, nee differente a 
potestate, proferantur. 

Consonantes, additis vocalibus, quibusdam prae- 
positis, aliis postpositis. 2 

Ex consonantibus, quorum nomen incipit a Con- 
sonante, Mutae sunt ; quarum a vocali, semi-vocales : 
Mutas non inde appellatas, quod parum sonarent, 
sed quod nihil. 3 



1 Concerning the force and power of letters the ancients 
have written as accurately as about any other of their ex- 
positions. Those who have worked out this discussion 
are Varro, Priscianus, and Appion, who was called the 
cymbal of the world : and among rhetoricians not the 
least critics ; as Dionysius Halicarnassaeus, Caius Caesar, 
and Octavius Augustus. 

2 Letters which can be pronounced by themselves are 
vowels ; those which can not, except with others, con- 
sonants. The names of vowels are produced with a single 
sound, not different from their value. Consonants, with 
vowels added, some placed before, others placed after. 

8 Consonants, a name which comes from con-sonante 
(sounding with) include Mutes, from their vowels known 
as semi-vowels ; not called Mutes because they sound too 
little, but because they do not sound at all. 



CHAPTER III 
OF THE VOWELS 

All our vowels are sounded doubtfully. In quan- 
tity (which is time) long or short. Or, in accent 
(which is tune) sharp or flat. Long in these words 
and their like: 

Debating, congeling, expiring, opposing, endur- 
ing. 
Short in these : 

Stomaching, severing, vanquishing, ransoming, 
picturing. 
Sharp in these : 

Hate, mete, bite, note, pule. 
Flat in these: 

Hat, met, bit, not, pull. 

A 
With us, in most words, is pronounced less than 
the French a : as in 

art, act, apple, ancient. 
But when it comes before I, in the end of a 
syllabe, it obtaineth the full French sound, and is 
uttered with the mouth and throat wide opened, the 
tongue bent back from the teeth, as in 

all, small, gall, fall, tall, call. 
So in all the syllabes where a consonant followeth 
the /, as in 

salt, malt, balm, calm. 
8 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR g 

Omnes Vocales ancipites sunt: (i.e.) modo 
longae, modo breves : eodem tamen modo semper 
depictae (nam scriptura est imitatio sermonis, ut 
pictura corporis. Scnptio vocum pictura. Smithus) 
et eodem sono pronunciatae. Nisi quod vocalis 
longa bis tantum temporis in effando retinet, quam 
brevis. Ut recte cecinit ille de vocalibus. 

Temporis unius brevis est, ut longa duorum. 1 
[Literae hujus sonus est omnium gentium fere 
communis. Komen autem, et figura multis natio- 
nibus est diversa. 2 — Scalig. et Ramus. 

Dionysius ait a esse, cv^uvoTarov , ex plenitudine 
vocis. 3 

Teren. Maiirns. 
A, prima locum littera sic ab ore, sumit, 
Immunia, rictu patulo, tenere labra : 
Linguamque necesse est ita pandulam reduci, 
Ut nisus in illam valeat subire vocis, 
Nee partibus ullis aliquos ferire dentes.] 4 

1 All vowels are of two natures : that is, now long, now 
short. However they are always represented in the same 
way (for writing is the imitation of speech as the picture 
is of the body. Writing h the picture of sounds. Smith) 
and pronounced with the same sound. Except that a long 
vowel requires twice as much time to pronounce as a short 
one. As one has truly said of vowels, the short is equal 
to one beat, the long to two beats. 

3 The sound of this letter is common to almost all 
nations, but the name and the form are different with many 
nations. 

8 Dionysius says a is the clearest sound given with a 
full voice. 

4 A, the first letter, comes out from the mouth with the 
lips apart, the jaw open and the tongue drawn back so flat 
that the sound comes out without striking against the 
teeth at any point. 



io THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

E 

Is pronounced with a mean opening of the mouth, 
the tongue turned to the inner roof of the palate, 
and softly striking the upper great teeth. It is a 
letter of divers note and use ; and either soundeth, 
or is silent. When it is the last letter, and soundeth, 
the sound is sharp, as in the French i. Example in 
me, see, agree ye, she ; in all, saving the article the. 

Where it endeth, and soundeth obscure and 
faintly, it serves as an accent to produce the vowel 
preceding: as in made, steme, stripe, ore, cure, 
which else would sound, mad, stem, strip, or, cur. 

It altereth the power of c, g, s, so placed, as in 
hence, which else would sound henc ; swinge, to 
make it different from swing; use, to distinguish 
it from us. 

It is mere silent in words where / is coupled with 
a consonant in the end; as whistle, gristle, brittle, 
-fickle, thimble, etc. 

Or after v consonant, or double s, as in 
love, glove, move, redresse, crosse, losse. 

Where it endeth a former syllabe, it soundeth 
longish, but flat ; as in 

derive, prepare, resolve. 
Except in derivatives or compounds of the sharp e, 
and then it answers the primitive or simple in the 
first sound; as 

agreeing, of agree ; foreseeing, of foresee ; 
being, of be. 
Where it endeth a last syllabe, with one or mo 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR it 

[Triplicem differentiam habet : primam, mediocris 
rictus: secundam, linguae, eamque duplicem ; al- 
teram, interioris, nempe inflexae ad interius coelum 
palati ; alteram genuinos prementis, Tertia est labri 
inferioris. 1 

Ramus, lib. 2. 

Duas primas Terentianus notavit ; tertiam tacuit. 2 
Terentianus 1. 

E, quae sequitur, vocula dissona est priori; quia 
deprimit altum modico tenore rictum, et remotos 
premit hinc, et hinc molares. 

Apud latinos, e latius sonat in adverbio bene, 
quam in adverbio here : hujus enim poster iorem 
vocalem exilius pronunciabant ; ita, ut etiam in 
maxime exilem sonum transierit hen. Id, quod 
latius in multis quoque patet : ut ab Eo, verbo, de- 
ductum, ire, Us, et eis: Diis, et Deis: febrem, f re- 
brim : turrem, turrim : prior e, et priori : 3 — Ram et 
Scalig. 

Et propter hanc vicinitatem (ait Quinct.) e 
quoque loco i fuit : ut Menerva, leber, magester : pro 
Minerva, liber, magister.Y 

1 It has three values ; first, with the mouth moderately 
open; the second, a twofold quality; the inner part of the 
tongue bent back in fact to the very top of the palate, and 
again when the tongue rests against the cheek teeth; the 
third is of the lower lip. 

2 Terentianus notices the two first : he is silent as to the 
third. 

3 The e that follows is very different from the former, 
because it lowers the jaw with a moderate tone, and presses 
against the molars farthest back on both sides." Among 



12 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

consonants after it, it either soundeth flat and in 
full ; as in 

descent, intent, amend, offend, rest, best. 
Or it passeth away obscured, like the faint i; as 
in these 

written, gotten, open, sayeth, &c. 
Which two letters e and i have such a nearness 
in our tongue, as oftentimes they interchange places ; 
as in 
enduce, for induce : endite, for indite : her for hir. 



the Latins e sounds more broadly in the adverb bene than 
in the adverb here ; for they pronounced the last vowel 
here more lightly so that it comes out in a particularly 
thin sound, here. This pronunciation is yet more evident 
in many words ; as from Eo we derive ire, Us, and eis ; 
Diis and Deis ; febrem and febrim ; turrem and turrim ; 
prior e and priori. 

4 And because of this close relationship (says Quinctilian) 
e was also used in place of i ; as Menerva, leber, magester ; 
for Minerva, liber, and r: agister. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 13 

/ 
Is of a narrower sound than e, and uttered with 
a less opening of the mouth, the tongue brought 
back to the palate, and striking the teeth next to 
the cheek teeth. 

It is a letter of a double power. 

As a vowel in the former, or single syllabes, it 
hath sometimes the sharp accent ; as in 

binding, minding, pining, whining, wiving, 

thriving, mine, thine. 

Or all words of one syllabe qualified by e. But 
the flat in more, as in these, bill, bitter, giddy, little, 
incident, and the like. 

In the derivatives of sharp primitives, it keepeth 
the sound, though it deliver over the primitive con- 
sonant to the next syllabe : as in 

divi-ning, requi-ring, repi-ning. 

For, a consonant falling between two vowels in 
the word, will be spelled with the latter. In syllabes 
and words, composed of the same elements, it 
varieth the sound, now sharp, now flat : as in 

give, give, alive, live, drive, driven, title, title. 

But these, use of speaking, and acquaintance in 
reading, will teach, rather than rule. 

I, in the other power, is merely another letter, 
and would ask to enjoy another character* For 

* When Alcuin of York introduced his script, called the 
"Caroline minuscule/' in Tours in the eighth century, there 
began to be a distinction between i and ; and at the same 
time came the vv or uu for w. This was in Europe and 



14 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

[Porrigit ictum genuine* prope ad ipsos 
Minimumque renidet supero tenus labello. 1 

— Terent. 
I vocalis sonos habet tres : suum, exilem : alterum, 
latiorem proprioremque ipsi e\ et tertium, obscu- 
riorem ipsius u, inter quae duo Y graecae vocalis 
sonus continetur: ut non inconsulto Victorinus am- 
biguam illam quam adduximus vocem, per Y scri- 
bendam esse putarit, Optimus. 2 — Scalig. 

Ante consonantem I semper est vocalis. Ante 
vocalem ejusdem syllabae consonans. 

Apud Hebraeos / perpetuo est consonans ; ut apud 
Graecos vocalis. 

Ut in Giacente, Giesu, Gioconda, Giustitia.] 2 



1 It (the tongue) is drawn back nearly to the cheek teeth, 
and there is a slight smile to the upper lip. 

2 The vowel / has three sounds : its own, slight, the sec- 
ond, broader, and clearer, even like an e; and third, more 
obscure, like an u ; between these two last stands the 
Greek vowel y ; so that not without reason did Victorinus 
think that this twofold sound, which we treat as a vowel, 
should be written y. 

3 Before a consonant 7" is always a vowel. Before a 
vowel of the same syllabe, a consonant. Among the 
Hebrews I is always a consonant, as among the Greeks 
always a vowel, as in Giacente, Giesu, Gioconda, Giustitia. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 15 

where it leads the sounding vowel, and beginneth 
the syllabe, it is ever a consonant : as in 

James, John, jest, jump, conjurer, perjured. 
And before diphthongs : as jay, joy, juice, having 
the force of the Hebrew's Jod, and the Italian's Gi. 



seems not to have extended to England (see note on w). 
J as a consonant began to appear in spelling, where i stood 
for the same letter, as a vowel, in the sixteenth century. 
Before Jonson's Grammar was written they were dis- 
tinguished in type, but the feeling that "they were forms 
of the same letter continued for many generations. " 
N. E. D. 

H. Sweet, in his History of English Sounds, p. 66, calls 
V and / merely ornamental varieties for beginnings of 
words which developed with consonantal symbols. / was 
used as a flourish when two i's came together, as filij. 



16 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

[O pronunciatur rotundo ore, lingua ad radices 
hypoglossis reducta. 6 fxUpov, et 6 ftcya, unica tan- 
tum nota, sono differenti. 

Profertur, ut o>. 

Ut oo, vel ou Gallicum. 1 

Una quoniam sat habitum est notare forma, 
Pro temporibus quae gremium ministret usum. 
Igitur sonitum reddere voles minori, 
Retrorsus adactam modice teneto linguam, 
Rictu neque magno sat erit patere labra, 
At longior alto tragicum sub oris antro 
Molita, rotundis acuit sonum labellis. 2 

— Terent. 
Differentiam o parvi valde distinctam Franci 
tenent : sed scriptura valde confundant. O , scribunt 
perinde ut proferunt. At o> seribunt modo per an, 
modo per ao, quae sonum talem minime sonant, qui 
simplici, et rotundo motu oris proferri debet. 

Quanta sit affinitas (o) cum (it) ex Quinct. 
Plinio, Papyriano notum- est. Quid enim o et u, 
permutatae invicem, ut Hecobe, et Notrix, Cnl- 



1 O is pronounced with a round mouth, the tongue drawn 
back to the roots of the epiglottis. O short and o long 
are very different sounds in speech, though indicated by 
one letter in writing. O long is pronounced as oo or 
Gallic ou. 

2 As it is held sufficient to designate the different quan- 
tities by one symbol which keeps its customary position, 
so if you wish to give the sound of the shorter o, hold the 
tongue moderately drawn back and it will open the lips, 
with the jaw not so wide; but the longer o, a tragic sound 
from the cavern of the mouth, comes out sharply with 
rounded lips. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 17 

O 

Is pronounced with a round mouth, the tongue 
drawn back to the root; and is a letter of much 
change and uncertainty with us. 

In the long time it naturally soundeth sharp, and 
high; as in 
chosen, hosen, holy, folly ; open, over, note, throte. 

In the short time more flat, and akin to u ; as 
cosen, dosen, mother, brother, love, prove. 

In the diphthong sometimes the is sounded ; as 
ought, sought, nought, wrought, mow, sow. 

But oftener upon the u; as in sound, bound, how, 
now, thou, cow. 

In the last syllahcs, before u and zv, it frequently 
loseth [its sound] ; as in 

person, action, willow, billow. 
It holds up, and is sharp, when it ends the word, 
or syllabe; as in 

go, fro, so, no. 
Except into, the preposition ; two, the numeral ; do, 
the verb, and the compounds of it ; as undo, and the 
derivatives, as doing. 

It varieth the sound in syllabes of the same char- 
acter, and proportion ; as in 

shove, glove, grove. 

Which double sound it hath from the Latin ; as 

voltus, vultus ; vultis, voltis. 



18 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

chides, et Pulixena, scriberentur ? sic nostri praecep- 
tores, Cervom, Servomque u et o litteris scripserunt ; 
Sic dederont, probaveront, Romanis olim fuere, 
Quinct. lib. I. 1 

Denique o, teste Plinio apud Priscianum, aliquot 
Italiae civitates non habebant; sed loco ejus pone- 
bant u, et maxime Umbri, et Tusci. Atque u con- 
tra, teste apud eundem Papyriano, multis Italiae 
populis in usu non erat ; sed utebantur o ; unde 
Romanorum quoque vetustissimi in multis diction- 
ibus, loco ejus o posuerunt : Ut poblicum, pro pub- 
licum] polcrum, pro pulcrum; colpam, pro culpam.] 2 



1 The Franks hold the different o's of little value, and 
confuse them in their writings. O short they write as they 
pronounce it. But o long, sometimes for an, sometimes 
for ao, which by no means gives such a sound, but ought 
rather to be given with a single rounded position of the 
mouth. The great likeness between o and u is noted by 
Quinctilian, Pliny and Papyrianus. For why should o 
and u be written intercuangeably, as Hecobe, Notrix, Cul- 
chides, and Pulixena? So our teachers write cervom, 
servom, with the letters o and u. So, too, the Romans 
formerly had dederont, probaveront. 

2 Then o, according to Pliny, quoted by Priscianus, sev- 
eral Italian states did not have ; but in its place they 
used u, especially the Umbrians and Tuscans. But on the 
contrary, according to Papyrianus, quoted by the same 
author, u was not in use in many Italian states, but o ; 
hence too, the earliest Romans in many of their writings 
have used o for u; as poblicum for publicum', polcrum for 
pulcrum] colpam for culpam. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 19 

[Quam scribere Grains, nisi jungat Y, nequibit 
Hanc edere vocem quoties paramus ore, 
Nitamur ut U dicere, sic citetur ortus 
Productius autem, coeuntibus labellis 
Natura soni pressi altius meabit. 

— Terentian. 
Et alibi. 
Graeca dipthongus ov, litteris tamen nostris vacat, 
Sola vocalis quod u complet hunc satis sonum. 1 

Ut in titulis, fabulis Terentii praepositis. Graeca 
Menandra: Graeca Apollodoru, pro McvavSpov, et 
'AiroWoSopov, et quidem, ne quis de potestate vocalis 
hujus addubitare possit, etiam a mutis animalibus 
testimonium Plautus nobis exhibuit e Peniculo 
Menechmi: ME. Egon' dedi? Pe. tu, tu, inquam, 
vin' afferri noctuam. 

Quae tu, tu, usque dicat tibi: nam nos jam nos 
defessi sumus. 

Ergo ut ovium balatus rjra literae sonum : sic 
noctuarum cantus, et cuculi apud Aristophanem 
sonum hujus vocalis vindicabit. Nam, quando u 
liquescit, ut in quis, et sanguis, habet sonum com- 



1 Whenever we pronounce the vowel, which the Greek 
is unable to use without joining y, we should try to utter 
as u (so that the beginning should come out more pro- 
longed by bringing the lips together) : or should the be- 
ginning of the sound be more prolonged, then the quality 
of the repressed sound will come out more strongly with 
the lips brought together. 

And elsewhere. 

The Greek diphthong, ov is not present in our letters ; 
the single vowel u is the sound which answers for it. 



20 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

V 

Is sounded with a narrower and mean compass, 
and some depression of the middle of the tongue, 
and is like our i, a letter* of double power. As a 
vowel it soundeth thin and sharp, as in use) thick 
and flat, as in us. 

It never endeth any word for the nakedness, but 
yieldeth to the termination of the diphthong ew, as 
in new, trew, knew, &c, or the qualifying e, as in 
sue, due, and the like. 

When it leadeth a silent* vowel in a syllabe, it is 
a consonant', as in save, reve, prove, love, &c. 
Which double force is not the unsteadfastness of 
our tongue, or uncertainty of our writing, but fallen 
upon us from the Latin. 



* The Folio has sounding instead of silent. Cunning- 
ham has altered to silent, which certainly agrees with the 
examples as sounding does not. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 21 

munem cum Y graeca, \ & 7r o6' > 6 k6kkv£ cc7rot kokkv 
Et qnando Coccyx dixit Coccy. 1 

Consonans ut u Gallicum, vel Digamma profertur. 
Hanc et modo quam diximus J, simul jugatas, 
Verum est spacium sumere, vimque consonatum, 
Ut quaeque tamen constiterit loco priore : 
Nam si juga quis nominet, / consona fiet. 2 

— T event. 
Versa vice prior V, sequatur ilia, ut in vide.] 3 



1 So in titles Terence writes the Greek Menandru, Greek 
Apollodoru, for Menandrou, Apollodorou. Nor can any- 
one question the force of this vowel as Plautus shows it 
to us and to Peniculus in the Menechmi, from the cries 
of dumb animals. 

Me. Did I give it? 

Pe. You, you (Tu, Tu), I say. Do you wish the viol 
to be brought to say (Tu, Tu) you, you, for we are quite 
worn out with saying it. For as the bleating of sheep 
makes the sound of eta, so the calls of owls and cuckoos 
in Aristophanes represent the sound of this vowel. For 
when u is liquid as in quis and sanguis, it has the same 
sound as if in Greek. As when the cuckoo says cuckoo. 

2 As a consonant V is pronounced like the Gallic u or 
Digamma. And what we have called /' when joined to 
vowels has the time and force of a consonant in truth 
when it stands at the beginning of a word ; for if one says 
juga, j becomes a consonant. 

It is just the other way if v comes first and / or % fol- 
lows, as in vide. 



22 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

W 

Is but the V geminated in full sound, and though 
it have the seat of a consonant with us, the power is 
always vowelish, even where it leads the vowel in 
any syllabe; as, if you mark it, pronounce the two 
uu, like the Greek ov, quick in passage, and these 
words, 

ov-ine, ov-ant, ov-ood, ov-ast, sov-ing, sou-am , 
will sound, wine, want, wood, wast, swing, swam. 

So put the aspiration afore, and these words 
hov-at, hov-ich, hov-eel, hov-ether. 
will be what, which, wheel, whether. 

In the diphthongs there will be no doubt, as in 
draw, straw, sow, know. 

Nor in derivatives, as knowing, sowing, drawing. 

Where the double w is of necessity used, rather 
than the single u, lest it might alter the sound, and 
be pronounced knoving, soving, draving; 

As in saving, having.* 



* According to Mr. Sweet in his History of English 
Sounds, pp. 141 and 160, the oldest English texts used 
uu, with single u after a consonant, as cuic. In the North 
of England u was preferred even at the beginning of a 
word, as uerc. The runic w became general in the 9th 
century. The O. E. rune, used in Orm and The Ancren 
Riwle was soon superseded by the French ligature w, 
though after a consonant we have u as suerd, in Middle 
English. W began to be used in the nth century and 
crowded out the A. S. rune. — Century Dictionary. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 23 

[Ut Itali pro fe runt Edoardo in Edonardo, et Galli, 
ou-y. 

Su'dvis, suadeo, etiam Latini, ut sov-avis, &c. At 
quid attinet duplicare, quod simplex queat sufficere ? 
Proinde W pro copia Characterum non reprehendo, 
pro nova litera certe non agnosco. Veteresque 
Anglo-Saxones pro ea, quando nos W solemus uti, 
figuram istius modi p solebant conscribere, quae 
non multum differt ab ea, qua et hodie utimer \ 
simplici dum verbum inchoet.] 1 — Smithus de rect. 
et amend L. A. Script, 



*As the Italians pronounce Edoardo for Edouardo, and 
the French say, ou-y. 

The Latins write suavis, suadeo, for sou-avis, etc. But 
why double, when the simple sound suffices? Then I do 
throw out W for superfluity, but I certainly do not 
recognize it as a new letter. The early Anglo-Saxons, 
where we use IV, would write the symbol p , which is not 
very different from that we use to-day J?, when it begins 
a word. 



24 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Y 

Is also mere vowelish in our tongue, and hath 
only the power of an i, even where it obtains the 
seat of a consonant, as in young, younker. 

Which the Dutch, whose primitive it is, write 
Iunk, lunker. 

And so might we write 

ioath, ies, ioke, ionder, iard, ielk ; 
youth, yes, yoke, yonder, yard, yelk. 
But that we choose y, to distinguish from / con- 
sonant. 

In the diphthong it sounds always i; as in 

may, say, way, joy, toy, they. 
And in the ends of words ; as in 

deny, reply, defy, cry. 
Which sometimes are written by i, but qualified 
by e. 

But where two ii are sounded, the first will be 
ever a y ; as in derivatives : 

denying, replying, defying. 

Only in the words received by us from the Greek, 
as syllabe, tyran, and the like, it keeps the sound of 
the thin and sharp u, in some proportion.* And 
this we had to say of the vowels. 



* Anglo-Saxon y expressed a mixed sound u which was 
early interchanged with i and in Middle English the two 
became convertible. — Century Dictionary. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 25 

[Siquidem eandem pro v graeco retinet : Certe 
alium quam i, omni in loco reddere debebat sonum.] 1 



1 Y, since it is the same sound, which is given by the 
Greek u y ought to be kept everywhere different from i 



CHAPTER IV 

OF THE CONSONANTS 

B 
Hath the same sound with us it hath with the 
Latin, always one, and is uttered with closing of the 
lips. 



26 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 27 

[Nobis cum Latinis communis. 1 — Smith. 
Nam muta jubet comprimi labella, 
Vocalis at intus locus exitum ministrat. 2 — Terent. 
B, Labris per spiritus impetum reclusis edicimis.] 3 
— Mart. Cap. 



1 B. Common to us and to the Latins. 

2 For the mute requires the lips pressed together, but the 
space within the lips furnishes an outlet for the vowel. 

3 B, we pronounce with the lips opened by the force of 
the breath. 



28 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Litera Androgyne, natura nee mas, nee foemina, 
et utrumque est neutrum. Monstrum literae, non 
litera; Ignorantiae specimen, non artis. 1 — Smithies. 

Quomodo nunc utimur vulgo, aut nullas, aut 
nimias habet vires : Nam modo k sonat, modo s. At 
si litera sit a k et ^ diversa, suum debet habere 
sonum. Sed nescio quod monstrum, aut Empusa 
sit, quae modo mas, modo foemina, modo serpens, 
modo cornix, appareat; et per ejus-modi imposturas, 
pro suo arbitrio, tarn s quam k exigat aedibus, et 
fundis suis: Ut jure possint hae duae literae con- 
tendere cum c per edictum, unde vi: Neque dubito 
quin, ubi sit praetor aequus facile c cadet caussa. 

Apud Latinos c eandem habuit formam, et char- 
acterem, quern 2ty/*a apud Graecos veteres. 

An haec fuit occasio, quod ignorantia, confusioque 
eundem, apud imperitos, dederit sonum C, quern S, 
nolo affirmare. 

Vetustae illius Anglo-Saxonicae linguae et scrip- 
tionis peritiores contendunt, apud illos atavos 
nostros Anglo-Saxones, C literam, maxime, ante e 
et i eum habuisse sonum, quern, et pro tenui rov Chi, 
sono agnoscimus: et I tali, maxime Hetrusci, ante e 
et i hodie usurpant. 2 — Idem ibidem. 



1 C, an androgynous letter by nature, neither male nor 
female, but neuter. A monstrosity of the alphabet, not 
a letter : an example of ignorance, not of art. 

2 In our common use it has either too much or no 
force. For it may be either k or s. But if the letter be 
different from k or s, it ought to have its own sound. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 29 

C 
Is a letter which our forefathers might very well 
have spared in our tongue ; but since it hath ob- 
tained place both in our writing and language, we 
are not now to quarrel with orthography or custom, 
but to note the powers 

Before a, u, and 0, it plainly sounds k, chi, or 
kappa) as in 

cable, cobble, cudgel. 
Or before the liquids, I and r; as in 
clod, crust. 

Or when it ends a former syllabe before a con- 
sonant; as in 

acquaintance, acknowledgment, action. 

In all which it sounds strong. 

Before e and i it hath a weak sound, and hisseth 
like s; as in 

certain, center, civil, citizen, whence. 
Or before the diphthongs : as in 

cease, deceive. 
Among the English-Saxons it obtained the 
weaker force of chi, or the Italian c ; as in 

capel, cane, cild, cyrce. 
Which were pronounced 

chapel, chance, child, church. 
It is sounded with the top of the tongue, striking 
the upper teeth, and rebounding against the palate. 



30 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

C molaribus super linguae extrema appulsis 
exprimitur. 1 — Mart. Cap. 

C pressius urget : sed et hinc, hincque remittit, 
Quo vocis adhaerens sonus explicetur ore. 2 

— T event. 



But I do not know what monster or Empusa* it may be, 
which appears now man, now woman, now serpent, now 
raven; and by impostures of this kind according to its 
will, it requires s as often as k for its dwelling and estate; 
so that these two letters may rightly go to law with c for 
a verdict, and win by force ; nor do I question when the 
praetor is just, c loses his case. 

Among the Latins C had the very form and character 
that Sigma had among the ancient Greeks. 

Whether this was the reason why ignorance and con- 
fusion should have given c the same sound as ^ among 
the unlearned, I am not willing to assert. 

The more learned in the Anglo-Saxon speech and writ- 
ing hold that among our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, the 
letter c had the sound, especially before e and i, which 
we recognize as the thin sound of their chi; and the 
Italians, and particularly the Etruscans to-day, use that 
sound before e and i. 

1 C is pronounced by bringing the molars together above 
the tip of the tongue. 

2 C presses out sharply : and it breaks when the sound 
of the voice comes from the mouth. 



*Empusa. "A monstrous spectre which was believed by the Greeks 
to devourhuman beings. It was said to be sent by Hecate and to as- 
sume various shapes, being sometimes known as donkey-footed. By 
Some it was identified with Hecate herself." — Harper* 's Dictionary. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 31 

D 

Hath the same sound, both before and after a 
vowel with us, as it hath with the Latins ; and is 
pronounced softly, the tongue a little affecting the 
teeth, but the nether teeth most. 



32 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

D appulsu linguae circa dentes superiores innas- 
citur. 1 

At portio dentes quotiens suprema linguae 
Pulsaverit imos, modiceque curva summas, 
Tunc D sonitum perficit, explicatque vocem. 2 



X B is pronounced by the thrust of the tongue against 
the upper teeth. 

2 But whenever the upper part of the tongue strikes 
against th^ teeth below, and with a slight curve those 
above them, it gives out the voice in the sound D. 






THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 33 

F 

Is a letter of two forces with us; and in them 
both sounded with the nether lip rounded, and a 
kind of blowing out ; but gentler in the one than the 
other. 

The more general sound is the softest, and ex- 
presseth the Greek <£; as in 

faith, field, -fight, force. 

Where it sounds ef. 

The other is iv, or van, the digamma of Claudius ; 
as in 

cleft, of cleave ; left, of leave. 

The difference will best be found in the word of, 
which as a preposition sounds ov, of. 

As the adverb of distance, 

off, far off. 



34 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Litera a graeca <£ recedit lenis, et hebes sonus. 1 — 
Idem. 

Vau consona, Varrone et Dydimo testibus, no- 
minata est J figura a Claudio Caesare facta etiam 
est. Vis ejus, et potestas est eadem, quae Digamma 
Aeolici, ut ostendit Terentianus in v consona. 
V , vade, veni, refer ; teneto vultum : 
Crevisse sonum perspicis, et coisse crassum, 
Unde JEoliis litera fingitur Digammos. 
J, quasi iv, contrarium F, quae sonat <f>. 2 



1 The letter is softer than the Greek <£, and has a dull 
sound. 

2 The consonant vau, according to Varro and Dydimus, 
is named tf , and so made by Claudius Caesar. Its force 
is the same as the Digamma of the iEolians, as Terentianus 
shows in his consonant v. 

V in vade, veni, refer; except vultum. 

You see that the sound has grown and has come together 
thick, whence it is made a letter digamma by the yEolians. 
£ like iv', on the other hand F has the sound of <f> . 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 35 

Spiritus cum palato. 1 — Mart. Cap. 

De sono quidem hujus literae satis constat: Sed 
distinctionis caussa Characterem illi dederunt aliqui 
hunc 3, ut secernatur a G. Nam ut Graeci in se- 
cunda conjugatione tres habent literas, k, y, \, 
tenuem, mediam, densam ; Angli quator habent, rata 
proportione sibi respondentes, ka, ga, ce, 3c. Ulae 
simplices, et apertae; hae stridulae, et compressae; 
illae mediae linguae officio sonantur; hae summa 
lingua as interiores illisa, superiorum dentium 
gingivas efflantur. Quodque est ka ad ga: Idem 
est ce ad 3c. 2 — Smithns, ibid. 

Voces tamen pleraeque, quas Meridionales Angli 
per hunc sonum rov5 pronunciamus in fine : Boreales 
per G proferunt : ut in voce Pons, nos bri3 : Illi brig. 
In ruptura, brec : illi brek. Maturam avem ad vo- 
landum, nos fli$ : illi Uig. z — Ibid. 

Apud Latinos proximum ipsi C est G. Itaque 



1 A breathing with the palate. 

2 It is in fact settled as to the sound of this letter, but for 
the sake of differentiating it, some have given it also the 
rune 3 to distinguish it from G hard. For as the Greeks 
in the second conjugation have three letters, k, y, \> light, 
medium and strong; so the English have four, correspond- 
ing in the same relation, ka, ga, ce, 3e. The first simple 
and open; the last strident and compressed. The former 
are pronounced with the middle of the tongue ; the latter 
by the tip of the tongue against the inner and upper teeth. 
As ka is to ga; so is ce to 3e 

8 However we pronounce most sounds as the Southern 
English do, by the sound of 3; the Northern English pre- 
fer G: so in the word bridge, we say bri3,they (the North- 
erners), brig. In break, we say brec, they say brek. For 
the bird in flight, we say fli3, they, Uig. 



36 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

G 

Is likewise of double force in our tongue, and is 
sounded with an impression made on the midst of 
the palate. 

Before a, o, and u, strong ; as in these, 
gate, got, gut 1 

Or before the aspirate h, or liquids I and r; as in 

ghost, glad, grant. 
Or in the ends of the words ; as in 

long, song, ring, swing, eg, leg, lug, dug. 
Except the qualifying e follow, and then the 
sound is ever weak ; as in 

age, stage, hedge, sledge, judge, dru&ge. 
Before u, the force is double; as in 
guile, guide, guest, guise. 
Where it soundeth like the French gu. 
And in 

guin, guerdon, languish, anguish. 
Where it speaks the Italian gu. 

Likewise before e and i, the powers are confused, 
and uttered now strong, now weak ; as in 

get, geld, give, gittern, -finger, — long 
In 

genet, gentle, gin, gibe, ginger, — weak. 

But this use must teach : the one sound being 
warranted to our letter from the Greek, the other 
from the Latin throughout. 



1 It is easy to verify the fact that g appears only before 
a, o, u, quest = gast ; gild, like guld or gold; to get as of 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 37 

Cneum, dicebant : Sic Curculionem et Gurculionem : 
Appulsa enim ad palatum lingua, modicello relicto 
intervallo, spiritu tota pronunciatur. 1 — Seal, de 
causs. L. L. 

Et Terentianus 

Sic amurca, quae vetuste saepe per c scribitur, 
Esse per g proferendum crediderunt plurimi. 
Quando a/xopyy Graeca vox est ; ya/x/xa origo 

praeferat. 
Apud Germanos semper profertur y. 2 



got; to give, like gave. — V. Henry, Comparative Grammar 
of English and German, p. 94. 

Early English usage varies constantly between the soft 
rune 3 and the hard g. The northern dialect seems to 
prefer hard g, give, gette. Chaucer hovers between the 
two forms of south and north, using given and geten. 
Tnough again Chaucer has gate and the Northumbrian 
yate, contrary to the general Northern use. 

— H. Sweet : History of English Sounds, p. 197. 

1 Among the Latins C is akin to G. So they say Cneum 
and Gneum, Curculium and Gurculium ; for drawing the 
tongue to the palate with a small space between the letter 
is pronounced with all the breath. 

2 So Amurca, which was formerly written with a c, 
r:any believe ought to be written with a g. Since Amorga 
is the Greek word, the original form is gamma. Among 
the Germans it is always gamma. 



38 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

We will leave H in this place, and come to 

K 

Which is a letter the Latins never acknowledged, 
but only borrowed in the word kalendae. They 
used qu for it. We sound it as the Greek k; and 
as a necessary letter, it precedes and follows all 
vowels with us. 

It goes before no consonants but n; as in 
knave, knel, knot, &c. 
And /, with the quiet e after ; as in 

mickle, pickle, trickle, fickle. 
Which were better written without the c, if that 
which we have received for orthography would yet 
be contented to be altered. But that is an emenda- 
tion rather to be wished than hoped for, after so 
long a reign of ill custom amongst us. 
It followeth the s in some words ; as in 
skape, skonr, skirt, skirmish, skrape, skuller. 
Which do better so sound, than if written with c. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 39 

Cum Kalendae Graecum habebant diductionem et 
sonum, Kainra Graecam sunt mutuati literam Ro- 
mani, ut eas exprimerent. Et, credo tamen, 
fecerunt ea forma, ut, et C Romanum efformarent, 
quod haberet adjunctum, quasi retro bacillum, ut 
robur ei adderent ista forma K: nam C Romanum 
stridulum quiddam, et mollius sonat, quam K 
Graecum. 

Est et haec litera Gallis plane supervacanea, aut 
certe qu est. Nam qui, quae, quod, quid, nulla 
pronunciant differentia, ne minima quidem, a ki, ke, 
kod, kid, faucibus, palatoque formatur. 1 — CapeL 

Romani in sua serie non habebunt. 2 



1 Since the Romans consider Kalendae Greek both in 
word and sound, they have taken over the Greek letter 
kappa to express it. I believe, however, they expressed 
it by this character, so that they might form a Roman C 
which should have an adjunct, as it were a staff, to add 
vigor to this by the form K. For Roman C has a certain 
strident and also softer sound than Greek K. This letter 
is also plainly superfluous to the French, or certainly qu 
is; for qui, quae, quod, quid, formed with jaws and 
palate, they pronounce in no slighter degree different 
from ki, ke, kod, kid. 

2 The Romans will not have it in their alphabet. 



40 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

L 

Is a letter half-vowelish; which, though the 
Italians (especially the Florentines) abhor, we keep 
entire with the Latins, and so pronounce. 

It melteth in the sounding, and is therefore called 
a liquid, the tongue striking the root of the palate 
gently. It is seldom doubled, but where the vowel 
sounds hard upon it ; as in 

hell, bell, kill; shrill, trull, full. 
And, even in these, it is rather the haste, and 
superfluity of the pen, that cannot stop itself upon 
the single /, than any necessity we have to use it. 
For, the letter should be doubled only for a follow- 
ing syllabe's sake ; as in 

killing, beginning, begging, swimming. 






THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 41 

Lingua, palatoque dulcescit. 1 — M. Cap. 

Et sic Dionysius yXvKvrarov, dulcissimam literam 
nominat. 

Qui nescit, quid sit esse Semi-vocal em, ex nostra 
lingua facile poterit discere : Ipsa enim litera L 
quandam, quasi vocalem, in se videtur continere, ita 
ut juncta. mutae sine vocali sonum faciat; ut 
abl, stabl, fabl, &c. 

Quae nos scribimus cum e, in fine, vulgo 
able, stable, fable. 

Sed certe illud e non tarn sonat hie, quam fuscum 
illud, et foemininum Francorum e: Nam nequic- 
quam sonat. 

Alii haec haud inconsulto scribunt 
abil, stabil, fabul ; 
Tanquam a fontibus 

habilis, stabilis, fabula; 

Yerius, sed nequicquam proficiunt. Nam con- 
sideratius auscultanti, nee i, nee u est, sed tinnitus 
quidam, vocalis naturam habens, quae naturaliter his 
liquidis inest. 2 

1 It grows sweet on the tongue and the palate. 

2 And so Dionysius calls it glukutaton. the sweetest 
letter. Who does not know a semi-vowel can easily learn 
it from our language ; for it is this very letter L, seeming 
to have a vowel quality in itself, so when joined to a mute, 
it can sound without a vowel, as abl, stabl, fabl, etc., words 
which we commonly write with an e at the end, able, 
stable, fable. But certainly the e does not sound so much 
as the dull and feminine e of the French, for it has no 
sound at all. Others, not without reason, write abil, 
stabil, fabul\ as it were from the sources habilis, stabilis, 
fabula ; but, though they have the right on their side, it 
is of no avail. For those who listen attentively hear 
neither i nor u, only a certain ringing having the quality 
of a vowel, which naturally belongs to these liquids. 



42 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

M 
Is the same with us in sound as with the Latins. 
It is pronounced with a kind of humming inward, 
the lips closed; open and full in the beginning, 
obscure in the end, and meanly in the midst. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 43 

Libris imprimitur. 1 — M. Capella. 

Mugit intus abditum, ac coecum sonum. 2 — Terent. 

Triplex sonus hujus literae M Obscurum, in 
extremitate dictionum sonat, ut templum : Apertum, 
in principio, ut magnas : Mediocre, in mediis, ut 
umbra. 3 — Prise. 



1 It is pressed within the lips. 

2 It moos from within and has a liquid sound. 

8 There are three sounds of this letter; m obscure at the 
ends of words, as templum- an open sound, at the begin- 
ning, magmis ; a medial sound, in the middle, as umbra. 



44 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

N 

Ringeth somewhat more in the lips and nose ; the 
tongue striking back on the palate, and hath a 
threefold sound, shrill in the end, full in the begin- 
ning, and flat in the midst. 

They are letters near of kin, both with the Latins 
and us. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 45 

Quartae sonitus fingitur usque sub palato, 

Quo spiritus anceps coeat naris, et oris. 1 — Terent. 

Lingua dentibus appulsa collidit. 2 — Mart. Cap. 

Splendidissimo sono in fine : et subtremulo ple- 
niore in principiis; mediocri in medio. 3 — Jul. C. 
Seal. 



1 The sound of the fourth is found close under the 
palate where the breath of the mouth and the nose come 
together. 

2 When the tongue is driven against the teeth, it strikes 
against them. 

3 A very clear sound at the ends of words ; in the be- 
ginnings full of tremulousness; and of medium value in 
the middle of words. 



46 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

P 

Breaketh softly through the lips, and is a letter 
of the same force with us as with the Latins. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 47 

Labris spiritu erumpit. 1 — Mar. Cap. 

Pellit sonitum de mediis foras labellis. 2 — Ter. 
Maurus. 



1 Breaks through the lips with breath. 

' It pushes out the soun J from the middle of the lips. 



4 8 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 



Q 
Is a letter we might very well spare in our alpha- 
bet, if we would but use the serviceable k as he 
should be, and restore him to the right of reputation 
he had with our forefathers. For the English Sax- 
ons knew not this halting Q, with her waiting 
woman u after her ; but exprest 

quail ^| f kuail 

quest ! , J kuest 

quick fl kuick 

.quill J I kuill 

Till custom, under the excuse of expressing enfran- 
chised words with us, intreated her into our lang- 
uage, in 

quality, quantity, quarrel, quintessence, &c. 
And hath now given her the best of &'s possessions. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 49 

Est litera mendica, supposititia, vere servilis, 
manca, et decrepita ; et sine u, tanquam bacillo, nihil 
potest : et cum u nihil valet amplius quam k. 

Qualis qualis est, hanc jam habemus, sed semper 
cum praecedente sua u, ancilla superba. 1 — Smithus. 

Namque Q praemissa semper u, simul mugit sibi. 
Syllabam non editura, ni comes sit tertia 
Quaelibet vocalis. 2 — Ter. Man. 

Diomedes ait Q esse compositam ex c et u. 

Appulsu palati ore restricto profertur. 3 — M. Cap. 



1 Is a beggarly letter, spurious and truly servile, halt 
and decrepit ; and without u, a staff, as it were, it can do 
nothing; and with u is worth no more than k. Such as it 
is, now we have it, but always with its u following, a 
haughty handmaid. 

2 For Q, with u always sent ahead, mutters to herself 
and will not utter a syllable unless there is some vowel as 
tnird companion. 

* Diomedes says Q is made up of c and u. It is pro- 
nounced by one impulse from the palate. 

4 



SO THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

R 

Is the dog's letter, and hurreth in the sound ; the 
tongue striking the inner palate, with a trembling 
about the teeth. It is sounded firm in the beginning 
of the words, and more liquid in the middle and 
ends ;* as in 

rarer, riper. 
And so in Latin. 



*"R was kept unchanged in First Modern English 
(1500-1600), being afterward gradually weakened till it 
lost its trill everywhere. Towards the end of the Third 
period (1700-1800) it began to be dropped everywhere 
except before a vowel, as in the present Standard English.' , 
— H. Sweet, New English Grammar, § 867. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 51 

Vibrat tremulis ictibus aridum sonorem. 1 — Ter. M. 
Sonat his de nare canina 

Litera 2 — Pers. Sat. I. 

7? Spiritum lingua crispante, corraditur. 3 — M 
Cap. 

Dionysius twv 6/xoycvcW yeventoTaroi/ ypdjAfm, e COll- 
generibus generosissimam appellavit. 4 



1 R vibrates with a dry sound in trembling beats. 
2 The letter sounds from the dog's nose. 
8 Over the vibrating tongue R rolls out the breath. 
4 Dionysius calls it a letter of noble kinship. 



52 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

S 

Is a most easy and gentle letter, and softly hiss- 
eth against the teeth in the prolation. It is called 
the serpent's letter, and the chief of the consonants. 
It varieth the powers much in our pronunciation, 
as in the beginning of words it hath the sound of 
weak c before vowels, diphthongs, or consonants ; as 

salt, say, small, sell, shrik, shift, soft, &c. 
Sometimes it inclineth to z ; as in these, 
muse, use, rose, nose, wise, 
and the like : where the latter vowel serves for the 
mark or accent of the former's production. 

So, after the half- vowels, or the obscure e\ as in 
bells, gems, wens, burs, chimes, rimes, games. 

Where the vowel sits hard, it is commonly 
doubled. 






THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 53 

v? promptus in ore, agiturque pone dentes, Sic 
lenis et unum ciet auribus susurrum. 

Quare non est merita, ut a Pindar dicer etur 
SavKtySS^Adv. Dionysius quoque cum ipsum expellit, 
rejicitque ad serpentes, maluit canem irritatem 
imitari, quam arboris naturales susorros sequi. 1 — 
Seal. 

Est Consonanthtm prima, et fortissima haec 
litera, ut agnoscit Terentianus. 2 — Ram. 

Vivida est haec inter omnes, atque densa litera. 

Sibilum facit dentibus verberatis. 3 — M. Cap. 

Quoties litera media vocalium longarum, vel sub- 
jecta longis esset, geminabitur; ut Caussa, Cassus. 4 
— Quinctil. 



1 S, formed in the mouth, is made just behind the teeth, 
and makes a single gentle whisper to the ear. Wherefore 
it did not deserve to be called by Pindar sankibdelon, 
(pronounced with a false sound). Dionysius, also, when 
he rejected it, gave it over to the serpents, and believed 
that it imitated an angry dog rather than the natural whis- 
pering of the trees. 

2 This letter is the chief of the consonants, and the 
strongest, as Terentianus recognizes. 

5 It makes a hissing sound as it strikes against the 
teeth. 

4 Whenever the letter is between long vowels, or after 
long vowels, it is doubled, as Caussa. Cassus. 



54 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

T 

Is sounded with the tongue striking the upper 
teeth, and hath one constant power, save where it 
precedeth / and that followed by a vozvel ; as in 

faction, action, generation, corruption, 

where it hath the force of s, or c. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 55 

T qua superis dentibus intima est origo 

Summa satis est ad sonitum ferire lingua. 1 — Ter. 

T .appulsu linguae, dentibusque appulsis excudi- 
tur. 2 — M. Cap. 

Latine factio, actio, generatio, corruptio, vitium, 
otium, &c. 3 



1 T is formed by striking the tongue close to the roots 
of the upper teeth. 

2 T is driven out against the teeth by the thrust of the 
tongue. 

^In Latin f actio, actio, generatio, corruptio, vitium, 
otium, etc. 



56 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

X 

Is rather an abbreviation, or way of short writing 
with us, than a letter: for it hath the sound of k 
and s. It begins no word with us, that I know, 
but ends many; as 

ax, kex, six, fox, box, 

which sound the same with these, 

backs, knacks, knocks, locks, &c. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 57 

X potestatem habet cs et gs; 
ex crux et frttx, appareat. 
Quorum obliqui casus sunt 

Crusis et Frugis. 1 — Ram. in Gram, ex 
Varrone. 
X quicquid c et s formavit, exsibilat. 2 — Capell. 
Neque Latini, neque Nos ilia multum utimur. 3 



1 X has the value of cs and gs, as appears in crux, frux, 
whose oblique cases are crusis, frugis. 
~X has a hiss formed from c and s. 
8 Neither we nor the Latins make much use of it. 



58 . THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Z 

Is a letter often heard amongst us, but seldom 
seen; borrowed of the Greeks at first, being the 
same with £; and soundeth a double ss. With us 
it hath obtained another sound, but in the end of 
words; as 

muse, maze, nose, hose, gaze, as. 
Never in the beginning, save with rustic people, 
that have 

zed, zay, zit, zo, zome, 

and the like, for 

said, say, sit, so, some. 
Or in the body of words indenizened ; as 
azure, zeal, zephyre, &c. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 59 

Z vero idcirco Appius Claudius detestabatur ; 
quod dentes mortui, dum exprimitur, imitatur. 1 — 
M. Capel 

£ Compendium duarum Hterarum est 0-8, in una 
nota et compendium Orthographiae, non Prosodiae ; 
quia hie in voce non una litera effertur, sed duae 
distinguuntur. Compendium ineleganter, et falla- 
citer inventum. Sonus enim, nota ilia significatus, 
in unam syllabam non perpetuo concluditur, sed 
dividitur, aliquando. Ut in illo Plauti loco: Non 
Atticissat, sed Sicilissat, pro dTrt/c^ctjO-t/ceXt^c^ Graecis ; 
et ubi initium facit, est So-, non <t<t, sicuti £cvs non 
o-o-ei?, sed So-tvs. 2 — Ram. in lib. 2. 



*Z was in truth detested by Appius Claudius, because 
it sounded as if it came through a dead man's teeth. 

2 £ is made up of the letters <n5, in one character and the 
composition is one of spelling, not of prosody; because 
here is pronunciation, one has not one letter but two dis- 
tinct. The composition was made inelegantly and falsely. 
For the sound symbolized by one character is not bound 
forever in one syllable, but is often divided. As in one 
place in Plautus he uses non Atticissat, sed Sicilissat for 
the Greek atticizei, sikilizei. When the letter occurs at 
the beginning of a word, it is ds, not ss, as Zeus, not sseus, 
dseus. 



60 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Nulli dubium est, faucibus emicet quod ipsis 

H litera sive est nota, quae spiret anhelum. 1 — Ter. 

H, contractis paulum faucibus, ventus exhalat. 2 

—Mar. Cap. 
Vocalibus apte, sed et anteposita cunctis 
Hastas, Hederas, quum loquor Hister, Hospes, 

Hujus. 
Solum patitur quatuor ante consonantes. 
Graecis quoties nominibus Latina forma est. 
Si quando Choros Phillida, Rhamnes, Thima, dico. 
Recte quidem in hac parte Graecissant nostri Walli. 3 

— Smithus. 

H vero kclt i£oxrjv aspiratio vocatur. Est enim 
omnium literarum spirituosissima, vel spiritus potius 
ipse. Nullius, aut quam minimum egens officii 
eorum, quae modo nominavimus instrumenta liter- 
arum formandarum. 

H extrinsecus ascribitur omnibus Vocalibus, ut 
minimum sonet; Consonantibus autem quibusdam 
intrinsecus ut plurimum. 4 

1 There is no doubt but that the letter H comes out of 
the throat, even if it is only a character which indicates 
rough breathing. 

2 The breath sends out H with the jaws slightly closed. 
8 But it is fitly placed before all vowels, as Hastas, 

Hederas; and when I say Hister, Hospes, Hujus. It is 
only allowed before four consonants, when in Greek names 
one has the Latin form ; as when I sav Choros, Phillida, 
Rhamnes, Thima. Our Welsh, in this particular, truly 
Greekize. 

* H is most fitly called a breathing, for it is of all the 
letters the most from the breath, or rather it is the very 
breath itself. It needs the aid of none, or the least pos- 
sible aid, of those we have called the forming letters. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 61 

H 
Whether it be a letter or no, hath been much 
examined by the ancients, and by some too much 
of the Greek party condemned, and thrown out of 
the alphabet, as an aspirate merely, and in request 
only before vowels in the beginning of words, and 
after x, where it added a strong spirit which the 
Welsh retain after many consonants. But be it a 
letter, or spirit, we have great use of it in our 
tongue, both before and after vowels. And though 
I dare not say she is (as I have heard one call her) 
the queen-mother of consonants) yet she is the life 
^nd quickening of them. 

What her powers are before vowels and diph- 
thongs, will appear in 

hall, heal, hill, hot, how, hew, holiday, &c. 

In some it is written, but sounded without power ; 
as 

host, honest, humble', 
where the vowel is heard without the aspiration ; as 
ost, onest, umble. 

After the vowel it sounds ; as in ah, and oh. 

Beside, it is coupled with divers consonants, where 
the force varies, and is particularly to be examined. 

We will begin with Ch. 



62 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Omnis litera, sive vox, plus sonat ipsa sese, cum 
postponitur, quam cum anteponitur. Quod vocal- 
ibus accidens esse videtur; nee se tollatur ea, perit 
etiamvis significationis ; ut, si dicam Erennius, 
absque aspiratione, quamvis vitium videar facere, 
intellectus tamen integer permanet. Consonantibus 
autem si cohaeret, ut ejusdem penitus substantiae 
sit, et si auferatur, significationis vim minuat 
prorsus; ut, si dicam, Cremes pro Chremes. Unde 
hac considerata ratione, Graecorum doctissimi sin- 
gulas fecerunt eas quoque literas, ut pro th 0, pro 
ph <j>, pro chi x 1 — Ram. 



Extrinsic H may be added to all vowels to make a very 
slight sound; intrinsic H to certain consonants to make a 
very clear sound. 

1 Every letter or vowel sound is more distinct when it 
(H) follows, than when it precedes. For this letter is, 
as it were, accidental with vowels, and not even if it is 
taken away is the force of its meaning lost; so that if I 
say Erennius, without the breathing, although I seem to 
make a mistake, nevertheless the meaning is intelligible. 
But if it is joined to consonants, so that it is a very part 
of them, and then if it is taken away, straightway it lessens 
the force of the meaning; as if I were to say Cremes for 
Chremes. Therefore in consideration of this necessity, the 
Greek scholars have made of them one letter, for th 
for ph <£, for chi %. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 63 

Ch 
Hath the force of the Greek x> or K , in many 
words derived from the Greek ; as in 
charact, christian, chronicle, archangel, monarch. 
In mere English words, or fetched from the Latin, 
the force of the Italian c. 

chaplain, chast, chest, chops, chin, chuff, churl. 

Gh 

Is only a piece of ill writing with us : if we could 
obtain of custom to mend it, it were not the worse 
for our language or us: for the g sounds just noth- 
ing in 

trough, cough, might, night, &c. 

Only the writer was at leisure to add a super- 
fluous letter, as there are two many in our 
pseudography. 



6 4 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 



Sonum illius g quaerant, quibus ita Hbet scribere ; 
aures profecto meae nunquam in his vocibus sonitum 
tov g poterant haurire. 1 — Smithns de rect. et emend. 



1 Let those who like to write thus seek out the sound of 
g: my ears have never been able to hear the sound of g in 
these letters, gh* 

*H. Sweet, in his History of English Sounds, p. 260, gives this same 
quotation more fully, so that the meaning is yet more evident. He 
quotes Smith as giving gh a very light sound, almost h, saying: "I know 
tauht, niht, fiht, and others of the same kind have sometimes g added by 
the scribes, as taught, night, fight, but let those who like to write it 
thus, seek out the sound of g; my ears have never been able to hear the 
sound of g in these letters gh." Mr. Sweet concludes that the first 
Modern English pronunciation of gh reduced it to a mere breath glide, 
modified by the preceding vowel. ^ "There was, no doubt, a strong— 
though, of course, hopeless— reaction against the dropping of gh, which 
was natural at a period when all the other consonants which are now 
silent, such as the k and w in know and write were still sounded." "The 
lip gh lasts still in laugh." 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 65 

Ph and Rh 
Litera <j> apud Graecos, p aspirata. 1 

Sh 

Si quis error in literis ferendus est, cum corrigi 
queat, nusquam in ullo sono tolerabilior est, quam 
in hoc, si scribatur Sh : et in p si scribatur per th. 
Nam hae duae quandam violentiam grandiorem 
spiritus in proferendo requirunt, quam caeterae 
literae. 2 — Ibid. 

Hac litera sive charactere, quam spinam, id est, 
pome, nostri Proavi appellabant. Avi nostri, et 
qui proxime ante librorum impressionem vixerunt, 
sunt abusi, ad omnia ea scribenda, quae nunc magno 
magistrorum errore per th scribimus ; ut 
pe, pou, pat, pern, pese, pick. 
Sed ubi mollior exprimebatur sonus, superne 
scribebant : ubi durior in eodem sulco ; molliorem 
appello ilium, quern Anglo-Saxones per ft duriorem, 
quern per p, exprimebant. Nam illud Saxonum ft 
respondet illi sono, quern vulgaris Graeca lingua 
facit, quando pronunciant suum 8, aut Hispani d, 
literam suam molliorem, ut cum veritatem, verdad 
appellant. Spina autem ilia p, videtur referre 
prorsus Graecorum. At th sonum 6 non recte dat. 
Nam si non esset alia deflexio vocis, nisi aspira- 

1 Ph and Rh are equivalent to the letter <f> among the 
Greeks and p aspirated. 

2 If any mistake must be endured in letters when it can 
be corrected, it is nowhere more endurable than in this 
sound, if one writes Sh; and in J?, if one writes it for th. 
For these two require a certain greater violence of breath 
in pronouncing, than in all the other letters. 

5 



66 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Ph and Rh 

Are used only in Greek infranchised words ; as, 

Philip, physic, rhetoric, Rhodes, &c. 

Sh 

Is merely English, and hath the force of the 
Hebrew <c shin, or the French ch ; as in 

shake, shed, shine, show, shrink, rush, blush. 

Th 

Hath a double and doubtful sound, which must 
be found out by use of speaking ; sometimes like the 
Greek 6; as in 

thief, thing, lengthen, strengthen, loveth, &c. 

In others, like their 8, or the Spanish d; as 

this, that, then, thence, those, bathe, bequeath. 

And in this consists the greatest difficulty of our 
alphabet, and true writing: since we have lost the 
Saxon characters and that distinguished 




from < 



pick 
pin 
phred 
I phrive 



Wh 
Hath been enquired of in w. And this for the 
letters. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 67 



tionis additae, aeque facile fuit Graecis t<S t aspira- 
tionem adjungere, quam tw p l . 



1 This letter or character }? which our early ancestors 
called thorn — our ancestors and those who lived just be- 
fore the printing of books have misused to express those 
letters which we now, through the great error of our 
teachers, write th; as }?e, ]?ou, ]?at, fern, j?ese, J?ick. 

When the softer sound was to be expressed, they wrote 
it above the line; when the harder on the same line. 
I call that softer which the Anglo-Saxons expressed by ft, 
harder by p. For the Saxon ft corresponds to that sound 
of common speech which the common Greek tongue gives 
in its S, or the Spanish d, their softer letter, as when they 
say verdad for veritatem. But that thorn )> seems to 
bring down to us the 9 of the Greeks. Though th does 
not rightly give the sound of 6. For if were not a 
change of sound other than the addition of an aspirate, it 
would have been equally easy for the Greeks to add an 
aspirate to the /, as they did to the r. 



CHAPTER V 

OF THE DIPHTHONGS 

Diphthongs are the complexions or couplings of 
vowels, when the two letters send forth a joint 
sound, so as in one syllabe both sounds be heard ; 
as in 

Ai, or Ay, 

aid, maid, said, pay, day, way. 

Au, or Aw, 

audience, author, aunt, law, saw, draw. 

Ea, 

earl, pearl, meat, seat, sea, ilea. 

To which add yea and plea ; and you have at one 

view all our words of this termination. 

Ei, 

sleight, streight, weight, theirs, peint, feint. 

Ew, 

few, strew, dew, anew. 

Oi, or Oy, 

point, joint, soil, coil, joy, toy, boy. 

OO 

good, food, mood, brood, &c. 

Ou, or Ow, 

rout, stout, how, now, bow, low. 

Vi, or Vy, 

buye, or buie ; juice, or juyce. 
68 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 69 

These nine are all I would observe ; for to men- 
tion more, were but to perplex the reader. The Oa, 
and Ee, will be better supplied in our orthography 
by the accenting e in the end ; as in 

brode, lode, cote, bote, queue, sene. 

Neither is the double ee to be thought on, but in 
derivatives; as trees, sees, and the like, where it is 
as two syllabes. As for eo, it is found but in three 
words in our tongue, 

yeoman, people, jeopard. 
Which were truer written, 

yeman, peple, jepard. 

And thus much shall suffice for the diphthongs. 

The triphthong is of a complexion rather to be 
feared than loved, and would fright the young 
grammarian to see him : I therefore let him pass, 
and make haste to the notion — 



CHAPTER VI 

OF THE SYLLABES 

A Syllabe is a part of a word that may of itself 
make a perfect sound; and is sometimes of only 
one letter; sometimes of more. 

Of one, as in every first vowel in these words : 
a. a-bated. 
e. e-clipsed. 
i. i-magined. 
o. o-mitted. 
u. usurped. 
A syllabe of more letters is made either of vowels 
only, or of consonants joined with vowels. 

Of vowels only, as the diphthongs, 
ai, in Ai-ton, ai-ding. 
au, in austere, au-dients. 
ea, in easie, ea-ting. 
ei, in ei-ry of hawks, 
ew, in ew-er, &c., and in 
the triphthong yea. 

Of the vowels mixed; sometimes but with one 
consonant, as to ; sometimes two, as try ; sometimes 
three, as best ; or four, as nests ; or five, as stumps ; 
otherwhile six, as the latter syllabe in restraints; at 
the most they can have but eight, as strengths. 
Some syllabes, as 

the, then, there, that, with, and which, 
70 






THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 71 

are often compendiously and shortly written; as 

ye yen yere yt w th anc J w ch 

which whoso list may use; but orthography com- 
mands it not : a man may forbear it, without danger 
of falling into praemunire. 

Here order would require to speak of the quan- 
tity of syllabes, their special prerogative among the 
Latins and Greeks ; whereof so much as is con- 
stant, and derived from nature, hath been handled 
already. The other, which grows by position, and 
placing of letters, as yet (not through default of 
our tongue, being able to receive it, but our own 
carelessness, being negligent to give it) is ruled by 
no art. The principal cause whereof seemeth to 
be this; because our verses and rythmes (as it is 
almost with all people, whose language is spoken at 
this day) are natural, and such whereof Aristotle 
speaketh in t<ov dvroo^eSiaoyxarwi/, that is, made of 
natural and voluntary composition, without regard 
to the quantity or syllabes. 

This would ask a larger time and field than is 
here given for the examination : but since I am 
assigned to this province, that it is the lot of my 
age, after thirty years conversation with men, to be 
elementarius senex, I will promise and obtain so 
much of myself, as to give, in the heel of the book, 
some spur and incitement to that which I so reason- 
ably seek. Not that I would have the vulgar and 
practised way of making abolished and abdicated 
(being both sweet and delightful, and much taking 
the ear) but to the end our tongue may be made 



72 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

equal to those of the renowned countries in Italy 
and Greece, touching this particular. And as for 
the difficulty, that shall never withdraw, or put me 
off from the attempt : for neither is any excellent 
thing done with ease, nor the compassing of this 
any whit to be despaired : especially when Quintilian 
hath observed to me, by this natural rythme, that 
we have the other artificial, as it were by certain 
marks and footing was first traced and found out. 
And the Grecians themselves before Homer, as the 
Romans likewise before Livius Andronicus, had no 
other meters. Thus much therefore shall serve to 
have spoken concerning the parts of a word, in a 
letter and a syllabe. 

It followeth to speak of the common affections, 
which unto the Latins, Greeks, and Hebrews, are 
two ; the accent and notation. And first, 



CHAPTER VII 

OF THE ACCENT 

The accent (which unto them was a tuning of the 
voice, in lifting it up, or letting it down) hath not 
yet obtained with us any sign ; which notwithstand- 
ing were most needful to be added ; not wheresoever 
the force of an accent lieth, but wherein for want 
of one, the word is in danger to be mistimed; as in 

abased, excessive, besoted, obtain, ungodly, 
surrender. 

But the use of it will be seen much better by col- 
lation of words, that according unto the divers 
place of their accent, are diversly pronounced, and 
have divers significations. Such are the words 
following, with their like ; as 

differ, defer; desert, desert; present, present; 

refuse, refuse ; object, object ; incense, incense ; 
convert, convert; torment, torment, &c. 

In original nouns, adjective or substantive, de- 
rived according to the rule of the writer of analogy, 
the accent is intreated to the first ; as in 
fdtherliness, motherliness, peremptory, haberdasher. 

Likewise in the adverbs, 

brotherly, sisterly. 

All nouns dissyllabic simple, in the first, as 

belief, honour, credit, silver, surety. 
73 



74 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

All nouns trisyllabic, in the first ; 

countenance, jeopardy, &c. 
All nouns compounded in the first, of how many 
syllabes soever they be ; as 

tennis-court keeper, chimney-szveeper. 
Words simple in able, draw the accent to the first, 
though they be of four syllabes) as 
sociable, tolerable. 
When they be compounded, they keep the same 
accent) as 

insociable, intolerable. 
But in the way of comparison it altereth thus : 
some men are sociable, some insociable ; some toler- 
able, some intolerable: for the accent sits on the 
syllabe that puts difference ; as 

sincerity, insincerity. 
Nouns ending in Hon, are accented in antepenul- 
timd) as 

condition, infusion, &c. 
In ty, a Latinis, in antepenultimd ; as 

verity, charity, simplicity. 
In ence, in antepenultimd) as 
pestilence, abstinence, sustenance, consequence. 
All verbs dissyllabes ending in er, el, ry, and ish, 
accent in prima; as 

cover, cancel, carry, bury, levy, ravish, &c. 
Verbs made of nouns follow the accent of the 
nouns ; as 

to blanket, to bdsquet. 
All verbs coming from the Latin, either of the 
supine, or otherwise, hold the accent as it is found 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 75 

in the first person present of those Latin verbs : as 
from 

animo, animate] celebro, celebrate. 
Except words compounded of facio; as 

liquefdcio, li que fie 
And of statuo ; as 

constituo, constitute. 
All variations of verbs hold the accent in the 
same place as the theme. 

I animate, thou dnimatest, &c. 
And thus much shall serve to have opened the 
fountain of orthography. Now let us come to the 
notation of a word. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE NOTATION OF A WORD 

Is when the original thereof is sought out, and 
consisteth in two things, the kind and the figure. 

The kind is to know whether the word be a 
primitive, or derivative) as 

man, love, 
are primitives ; 

manly, lover, 
are derivatives. 

The figure is to know whether the word be 
simple, or compounded ; as 

learned, say, are simple; unlearned, gain-say, 
are compounded. 

In which kind of composition, our English 
tongue is above all other very hardy and happy, 
joining together after a most eloquent manner, 
sundry words of every kind of speech; as 
mill-horse, lip -wise, self-love, twy -light, there- 
about, not-with-standing, by-cause, 
cut-purse, never-the-less* 

* Compositio. 

Saepe tria coagmentantur nomina; ut, a foot-ball-player, 
a tennis-court-keeper. 

Saepissime duo substantiva; ut, hand-kerchief, rain-bow, 
eye-sore, table-napkin, head-ache, K€<j>aXaXyca, 

Substantivum cum verbo; ut, wood-bind. 
Pronomen cum substantivo ; ut, self-love, c^tAavrta* self- 
freedom, avrovofxia. 

7 6 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 77 

These are the common affections of a word: his 

divers sorts now follow. A word is of number, or 

without number. Of number that word is termed 

to be, which signifieth a number singular, or plural. 

Singular, which expresseth one only thing; as 

tree, book, teacher. 
Plural, when it expresseth more things than one; 
as 

trees, books, teachers. 
Again a word of number is Unite or infinite. 
Finite which varieth his number with certain ends; 
as 

man, men) run, runs) horse, horses. 
Infinite, which varieth not; as 

true, strong, running, &c. 
both in the singular and plural. 

Moreover, a word of number is a noun or a verb. 
But here it were fit we did first number our words 
or parts of speech, of which our language consists. 

Verbum cum substantivo ; ut, a puff-cheek, cj>vcriyvddoq. 
Draw-well, draw-bridge. 

Adjectivum cum substantivo ; ut, New-ton, veairoXis, 
Handi-craft, veipooxx^ta. 

Adverbium cum substantivo ; ut, down-fall. 
Adverbium cum participio; ut, up-rising, down-lying. 1 

frequently three words are joined together; as a foot- 
ball-player, a tennis-court-keeper. 

Very frequently two substantives ; as hand-kerchief, 
rain-bow, eye-sore, table-napkin, head-ache. 

A substantive with a verb ; as wood-bind. 

A pronoun with a substantive ; as self-love, self-freedom. 

A verb with a substantive; as a puff-cheek, draw-well, 
draw-bridge. 

An adjective with a substantive; as New-ton, handi- 
craft. 

An adverb with a substantive ; as down-fall. 

An adverb with a participle ; as up-rising, down-lying. 



CHAPTER IX 

OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH 

In our English speech we number the same parts 
with the Latins. 



Noun, 


Adverb, 


Pronoun, 


Conjunction, 


Verb, 


Praeposition, 


Participle, 


Interjection. 



Only we add a ninth, which is the article : and 
that is two-fold; 

Finite, as the. Infinite, as a. 
The Unite is set before nouns appellatives) as 
the horse, the tree; the earth, or specially 
the nature of the earth. 
Proper names and pronouns refuse articles, ex- 
cept for emphasis sake ; as 

the Henry of Henries, the only He of the town. 
Where he stands for a noun, and signifies man. 
The infinite hath a power of declaring and de- 
signing uncertain or infinite things ; as 
a man, a house. 
This article a answers to the German ein, or the 
French or Italian articles, derived from one, not 
numeral, but praepositive ; as 

a house, ein hause. Ger. 

une maison. French, 
una casa. Italian. 

78 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 79 

The is put to both numbers, and answers to the 
Dutch article, der, die, das. 

Save that it admits no inflection. 



CHAPTER X 

OF THE NOUN 

All nouns are words of number, singular or 
plural. 

r common, 
They are 1 proper, 
{personal, 
r substantive, 
And are all / or 

( adjective. 
Their accidents are 

gender, case, declension. 

Of the genders there are six. 
i. Masculine. First, the masculine, which compre- 
hendeth all males, or what is under- 
stood under a masculine species) as angels, men, 
stars: and (by prosopopoeia) the months, winds, 
almost all the planets. 

Second, the feminine, which com- 

2. Feminine. priseth women, and female species : 

islands, countries, cities: 
and some rivers with us ; as 

Severn, Avon, &c. 

Third, the neuter, or feigned 

3. Neuter. gender: whose notion conceives 

neither sex: under which are com- 
prised all inanimate things, a ship excepted : of 

8d. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 81 

whom we say she sails well, though the name be 

Hercules, or Henry, or the Prince. As Terence 

called his comedy Eunuchus, per vocabulum artis. 

Fourth, the promiscuous, or epicene, 

4. Epicene. which understands both kinds : 

especially, when we cannot make 
the difference ; as, when we call them horses, and 
dogs, in the masculine, though there be bitches 
and mares amongst them. So to fowls, for the 
most part, w r e use the feminine-, as of eagles, 
hawks, we say, she Hies well] and call them geese, 
ducks, and doves, which they fly at. 

Fifth, the common, or rather doubt- 

5. Doubtful. ful gender, we use often, and with 

elegance ; as in cousin, gossip, 
friend, neighbour, enemy, servant, thief, &c. when 
they may be of either sex. 

The sixth is, the common of three 
genders', by which a noun is di- 

6. Common, of vided into substantive and adjec- 
Three. live. For a substantive is a noun 

of one only gender, or (at the 
most) of two : and an adjective is 
a noun of three genders, being always infinite. 



CHAPTER XI 

OF THE DIMINUTION OF NOUNS 

The common affection of nouns is diminution. 
A diminutive is a noun noting the diminution 
of his primitive. 

The diminution of substantives hath these four 
divers terminations. 
El. part, parcel) cock, cockerel. 
Et. capon, caponet; poke, pocket ; baron, baronet. 
Ock. hill, hillock ; bull, bullock. 
Ing. goose, gosling; duck, duckling. 

So from the adjective, dear, darling. 
Many diminutives there are, which rather be abu- 
sions of speech, than any proper English words. 
And such for the most part are men's and women's 
names: names which are spoken in a kind of flat- 
tery, especially among familiar friends and lovers ; 
as 

Richard, Dick; William, Will; Margery, 
Madge; Mary, Mai. Diminution of 
adjectives is in this one end, ish ; 
as white, whitish ; green, 
greenish. 
After which manner certain adjectives of like- 
ness are formed from their substantives; as 
devil, devilish ; thief, thievish ; colt, coltish ; 
elf, elvish. 
82 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 83 

Some nouns steal the form of diminution, which 
neither in signification shew it, nor can derive it 
from a primitive ; as 

gibbet, doublet, peevish. 



CHAPTER XII 

OF COMPARISONS 

These then are the common affections both of 
substantives and adjectives : there follow certain 
others not general to them both, but proper and 
peculiar to each one. The proper affection there- 
fore of adjectives is comparison : of which, after 
the positive, there be two degrees reckoned, namely, 
the comparative, and the superlative. 

The comparative is a degree declared by the 
positive with this adverb more ; as 
wiser, or more wise. 
The superlative is declared by the positive, with 
this adverb most; as 

wisest, or most wise. 
Both which degrees are formed of the positive; 
the comparative, by putting to er; the superlative, 
by putting to est ; as in these examples : 
learned, learneder, learnedest ; 
simple, simpler, simplest) 
trew, trewer, trewest ; 
black, blacker, blackest. 
From this general rule a few special words are 
excepted ; as 

good, better, best] 
ill, worse, worst) 
little, less, least) 
much, more, most. 
84 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 85 

Many words have no comparison ; as 

reverend, puissant) victorious, renowned. 
Others have both degrees, but lack the positive, 
as 

former, foremost, 
Some are formed of adverbs; as 

wisely, wiselier, wiseliest; 
justly, justlier, jastliest. 
Certain comparisons form out of themselves ; as 
less, lesser ; 
worse, worser. 



CHAPTER XIII 
OF THE FIRST DECLENSION 

And thus much concerning the proper affection 
of adjectives: the proper affection of substantives 
followeth; and that consisteth in declining. 

A declension is the varying of a noun substantive 
into divers terminations. Where, besides the abso- 
lute, there is as it were a genitive case, made in the 
singular number, by putting to s. 

Of declensions there be two kinds : the first mak- 
eth the plural of the singular, by adding thereunto 
s '> as tree, trees; 

thing, things; 
steeple, steeples. 

So with s, by reason of the near affinity of the-" 
two letters, whereof we have spoken before : 
park, parks ; buck, bucks ; dwarf, dzuarfs ; 
path, paths; 
And in this -first declension, the genitive plural 
is all one with the plural absolute; as 

~. f father, p] f fathers. 

\ fathers, ' \ fathers. 

General Exceptions. Nouns ending in z, s, sh, 
g, and ch, in the declining take to the genitive sing- 
ular i, and to the plural e ; as 

f Prince, -p,, f Princes, 

Princes, 
86 



. 1 Prince, -,- f 

Sing. < . Pitt. < 

{ Princes, { 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 87 

so rose, bush, age, breech, &c. which distinctions 
not observed, brought in first the monstrous syntax 
of the pronoun his joining with a noun betokening 
a possessor; as the prince his house, for the princes 
house.* 

Many words ending in diphthongs or vowels 
take neither z nor s, but only change their diph- 
thongs or vowels, retaining their last consonant, 
or one of like force ; as 

mouse, mice or meece\ 
louse, lice or leece; 
goose, geese; foot, feet; 
tooth, teeth. 
Exception of number. Some nouns of the first 
declension lack the plural ; as 

rest, gold, silver, bread. 
Others the singular; as 

riches, goods. 
Many being in their principal signification adjec- 
tives, are here declined, and in the plural stand in- 
stead of substantives; as 

other, others; one, ones; 

hundred, hundreds; thousand, thousands; 

necessary, necessaries; and such like. 

*Gifrord's edition, 1816, follows Jonson's direction and 
writes j *™? \ and "for the princis house" ; but the 
folio of 1640 has the form princes in both singular and 
plural possessive. R. Morris, in his Historical Grammar, 
p 81, writes, "The general use of the apostrophe in the 
singular (of the possessive case) is not often found before 
the end of the seventeenth century. It was probably 
employed to distinguish the possessive case from trie 
plural number. Its use may have been established from 



CHAPTER XIV 

OF THE SECOND DECLENSION 

The second declension formeth the plural from 
the singular, by putting to n; which notwithstand- 
ing it have not so many nouns as hath the former, 
yet lacketh not his difficulty, by reason of sundry 
exceptions, that cannot easily be reduced to one 
general head : of this former is 

oxe, oxen ; hose, hosen. 
Exceptions. Man and woman, by a contraction, 
make men and women, instead of manen and 
womanen. Cow makes kine or keene: brother, for 
brotheren, hath brithren, and brethren : child form- 
eth the plural by adding r besides the root ; for we 
say not childen, which, according to the rule given 
before, is the right formation, but children, be- 
cause the sound is more pleasant to the ears. 

Here the genitive plural is made by adding s 
unto the absolute ; as 

~. J childs, p. f childrens. 

*' \ child, ' \ children, 

Exceptions from both declensions. Some nouns 
have the plural of both declensions] as 
house, houses, and housen; 
eye, eyes, and eyen; 
shooe, shooes, and shooen. 

a false theory of the origin of the suffix which prevailed 

from Ben Jonson's to Addison's time, namely, that it was 

a contraction of his." 

Jonson himself writes in his Ode to the King, 

"This is King Charles his day." 

88 




CHAPTER XV 

OF PRONOUNS 

A few irregular nouns, varying from the general 
precepts, are commonly termed pronouns; whereof 
the first four, instead of the genitive, have an ac- 
cusative case; as 

[> }P!ur.{^ ^ipiur. (Y0U 

Me,) \Us. Thee, ) 

He, she, that, all three make in the plural, they, 
them. 

Four possessives : my, or mine : plural, our, ours. 
Thy, thine : plural, you, yours. His, hers, both in 
the plural making their, theirs. 

As many demonstratives : this : plural, these. 
That: plural those. Yon, or yonder, same.* 

Three interrogatives, whereof one requiring both 
genitive and accusative, and taken for a substan- 
tive : who? whose? whom? The other two infinite, 
and adjectively used, what, whether. 

Two articles, in gender and number infinite, 
which the Latins lack : a, the. 

One relative, which : one other signifying a 
reciprocation, self: plural, selves. 

* Yon or yonder. Cf. German jener. 
Sh. A. Y. L. I. : I, 2.— Rosalind. "Is yonder the man ?" 

89 



9 o THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Composition of pronouns is more common : 
myself, ourselves. Thyself, yourselves, 
himself, *\ 

herself, > Plural, themselves, 
itself, ) 
Thissame, thatsame, yonsame, yonder-same, 
selfsame. 



CHAPTER XVI 

OF A VERB 

Hitherto we have declared the whole etymology 
of nouns) which in easiness and shortness, is much 
to be preferred before the Latins and the Grecians. 
It remaineth with like brevity, if it may be, to 
prosecute the etymology of a verb. A verb is a 
word of number, which hath both time and person. 
Time is the difference of a verb, by the present, 
past, and future, or to come. A verb Unite there- 
fore hath three only times, and those always imper- 
fect. 

The first is the present ; as amo, I love. 

The second is the time past ; as amabam, I loved. 

The third is the future) as Ama, amato : love, love. 55 " 

The other times both imperfect) as amem, amarem, 

amabo. 
And also perfect) as amavi, amaverim, amaveram, 

amavissem, amavero, 
we use to express by a syntax, as shall be seen in 
the proper place. 



* Jonson gives only the tenses of the verb formed by 
endings or vowel change, not those formed with auxil- 
iaries, either for tense or mood variation, classifying those 
rather under the Syntax of a Verb. Part II, chap. 6. 

So that the imperative mood takes the place of the 
future tense, and the present tense also supplies a future 
sense, as we have still in, I go at three. To-morrow is 
Wednesday. 

91 



92 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

The future is made of the present, and is the 
same always with it. 

Of this future ariseth a verb infinite, keeping the 
same termination ; as likewise of the present, and 
the time past, are formed the participle present, by 
adding of ing; as love, loving. 

The other is all one with the time past 

The passive is expressed by a syntax, like the 
times going before, as hereafter shall appear. 

A person is the special difference of a verbal 
number, whereof the present, and the time past, 
have in every number three. 

The second and third person singular of the 
present are ryade of the first, by adding est and 
eth ; which last is sometime shortened into z or s* 

The time past is varied, by adding in like manner 
in the second person singular est, and making the 
third like unto the first. 

The future hath but only two persons, the second 
and third ending both alike. 

The persons plural keep the termination of the 
first person singular. In former times, till about 



* Compare Jonson's own use, Part I, Chap. 3, "For where 
it leads the sounding vowel and beginneth the syllabe," and 
again in his Masque, Pan's Anniversary, 1. 3. 

"His moon now riseth and invites." 

And again: 

"See Heaven expect eth my return 
The forked fire begins to burn 
Jove beckons me to come." 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 93 

the reign of King Henry VIII., they were wont to 
be formed by adding en ; thus,* 

loven, say en, complainen. 
But now (whatsoever the cause) it hath quite 
grown out of use, and that other so generally pre- 
vailed, that I dare not presume to set this afoot 
again: albeit (to tell you my opinion) I am per- 
suaded that the lack hereof well considered will 
be found a great blemish to our tongue. For 
seeing time and person be, as it were, the right and 
left-hand of a verb, what can the maiming bring 
else but a lameness to the whole body? 

And by reason of these two differences, a verb 
is divided two manner of ways. 

First, in respect of persons, it is called personal, 
or impersonal. 

Personal, which is varied by three persons ; as 

love, lovest, loveth. 
Impersonal, which only hath the third person; as 

behoveth, irketh. 
Secondly, in consideration of the times, we term 
it active, or neuter. 

Active, whose participle past may be joined with 
the verb am ; as 

/ am loved, thou art hated. 
Neuter, which cannot be coupled; as 

pertain, die, live. 
This therefore is the general forming of a verb, 
which must to every special one hereafter be 
applied. 

* Sh. : M. N. D, II, 1. 

"And then the whole quire hold their lips and laugh, 
And waxen in their mirth." 
Sp. : F. Q., "Words fearen babes." 



CHAPTER XVII 
OF THE FIRST CONJUGATION 

The varying of a verb by persons and times, 
both Unite and infinite, is termed a conjugation: 
whereof there be two sorts. The first fetcheth the 
time past from the present, by adding ed; and is 
thus varied : 

Pr. love, lovest, loveth. PI. love, love, love. 

Pa. loved, loved' st, loved. PL loved, loved, loved. 

Fu. love, love. PL love, love. 

Inf. love. 

Part. pr. loving. 
Part. pas*., loved. 

Verbs are ofttimes shortened ; as 
sayest, sest; zvould. woud] should, shoud) 

holpe, hope ; 
But this is more common in the leaving out of 
e ; as 

loved' st, for lovedest; rnb'd, rubbed) took'st, 

tookest. 
Exception of the time past, for ed, have d or t; 
as 

licked, lickt; leaved, left-, gaped, gap't; 
blushed, blush't. 

94 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 95 

Some verbs ending in d, for avoiding the con- 
course of too many consonants, do cast it away ; as 
lend, lent) spend, spent) gird, girt. 

Make, by a rare contraction, is here turned into 
made. Many verbs in the time past, vary not at 
all from the present) such are cast, hurt, cost, 
bnrst y &c. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
OF THE SECOND CONJUGATION 

And so much for the first conjugation, being 
indeed the most usual forming of a verb, and 
thereby also the common inn to lodge every 
strange and foreign guest. That which followeth, 
for anything I can find (though I have with some 
diligence searched after it), entertaineth none but 
natural and home-born words, which though in 
number they be not many, a hundred and twenty, 
or thereabouts; yet in variation are so divers and 
uncertain, that they need much the stamp of some 
good logic to beat them into proportion. We 
have set clown that, that in our judgment agreeth 
best with reason and good order. Which not- 
withstanding, if it seem to any to be too rough 
hewed, let him plane it out more smoothly, and I 
shall not only not envy it, but, in the behalf of 
my country, most heartily thank him for so great 
a benefit ; hoping that I shall be thought sufficiently 
to have done my part, if in towling this bell, I may 
draw T others to a deeper consideration of the mat- 
ter: for, touching myself, I must needs confess, 
that after much painful churning, this only would 
come, which here we have devised. 

The second conjugation therefore turneth the 
present into the time past, by the only change of 

96 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 97 

his letters, namely, of vowels alone, or consonants 
also. 

Verbs changing vowels only, have no certain 
termination of the participle past, but derive it as 
well from the present, as the time past: and that 
other-while differing from either, as the examples 
following do declare. 

The change of vowels is, either of simple 
vowels, or of diphthongs) whereof the first goeth 
by the order of vowels, which we also will observe. 

An a is turned into 00. 

Pres. shake, shakest, shaketh. PL shake, shake, 
shake. 

Past, shook, shookest, shook. PL shook, shook, 
shook. 

Fu. shake, shake. PL shake, shake. 

Inf. shake. 

Part. pre. shaking. 
Part. pa. shaken. 

This form do the verbs take, wake, forsake, and 
hang follow; but hang in the time past maketh 
hung, not hangen. 

Hereof the verb am is a special exception, being 
thus varied : 

Pr. am, art, is. PL are, are, are ; or be, be, be, 
of the unused word be, be'est, beeth, in the singular. 

Past was, wast, was; or, were, wert, were. PL 
ucre, were, were. 

Fut. be, be. Plur. be, be. 

Inf. be. 
7 



98 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Part. pr. being. 

Part. past. been. 

Ea maketh, first, e short: 

Pr. lead. Past. led. Part. pa. led. 
The rest of the times and persons, both singular 
and plural, in this and the other verbs that follow, 
because they jump with the former examples and 
rules in every point, we have chosen rather to 
omit, than to thrust in needless words. 

Such are the verbs eat, beat (both making 
participles past;* besides et and bet, eaten and 
beaten), spread, shead, dread, sweat, shread, tread. 
Then a, or o, indifferently: 
Pr. break. 

Past. brake, or broke. 
Par. pa. broke, or broken. 
Hitherto belong, speak, swear, tear, cleave, wear, 
steal, bear, shear, weave. So get, and help ; but 
holpe is seldom used, save with the poets. f 
i is changed into a. 
Pr. give. 

Past gave. 

Par. pa. given. 

* Sh. : King John I, i : "Sir Robert might have eat his 
part in me." N. E. D. gives et for pronounciation of ate, 
by analogy with read. 

t The distinction between the preterites as derived from 
the stem of the singular or of the plural of the O. E. 
preterite, was levelled in Middle English, so that we have 
both bare, and bore; baer, boren. In Modern English the 
preterite is assimilated to the past participle. Jonson's 
own use in The Discoveries shows the conflict then going 
on between the preterite and past participle. 

'They (words) are to be chose according— " 

"The words are chosen — " in two neighboring passages. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 99 

So bid, and sit. 

And here sometimes i is turned into a ana both. 

Pr. win. 

Past wan, or won. 

Par. pa. won. 
Of this sort are fling, ring, wring, sing, sting, 
stick, spin, strick, drink, sink, spring, begin, stink, 
shrink, swing, swim. 

Secondly, long i (ee) into e. 

Pr. reede. 

Past read. 

Par. pa. read. 
Also feed, meet, breed, bleed, speed. 
Then into ; as 

Pr. seeth. 

Past sod. 

Par. pa. sod, or soden. 
Lastly, into aw; as 

Pr. see. 

Past ^aw. 

Par. pa. seen. 
O hath a. 

Pr. come. 

Past caw£. 

Par. pa. come. 
And here it may besides keep its proper vowel. 

Pr. run. 

Past ran, or run. 

Par. pa. run. 



ioo THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

oo maketh o. 

Pr. choose. 

Past chose. 
Par. pa. chosen. 
And one more, shoot, shot; in the participle 
past, shot, or shotten. 

Some pronounce the verbs by the diphthong ew, 
chewse, shewt; and that is Scottish-like. 



CHAPTER XIX 

OF THE THIRD CONJUGATION 

The change of diphthongs is of ay, y, azv, and 
ow ; all which are changed into ew. 

rPr. slay. 

ay. < Past. slew. 
I Par. pa. slain. 
( Pr. fly. 

y. < Past. flew. 

\ Par. pa. flyne or flown. 
Pr. draw, 

aw. i Past. drew. 
Par. pa. drawn. 
Pr. know, 

ow. < Past. knew. 
Par. pa. known. 
This form cometh oftener than the three former; 
as snow, grow, throw, blozv, crow. 

Secondly, y is particularly turned sometimes 
into the vowels i and o. 

( Pr. &yte. 

». < Past. &t'f. 

v Par. pa. bit, or bitten. 
Likewise, hyde, qayte, chyde, stryde, slyde. 

Pr. hyght. 

Past. hoght. 
Par. pa. hoght. 
101 



•{ 



102 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

So shine, strive, thrive. 

And as y severally f rameth either e or o ; so mav 
it jointly have them both. 

Pr. ryse. 

Past. rise, or rose. 

Par. pa. rise, or risen. 

To this kind pertain, smyte, wryte, byde, rydc, 
clymb, dryve, clyve. 

Sometimes into the diphthong ay and ou ; as 
( Pr. lye. 

ay. \ Past. lay. 

\ Par. pa. lien, or /am. 

;Pr. fynd. 

Past. found. 
Par. pa. found. 
So ftywd, grynd, wynd, fyght. 
Last of all, aw and <w do both make e. 
( Pr. /a//. 

e. < Past. /W/. 
v. Par. pa. fallen. 
Such is the verb fraught; which Chaucer, in the 
Man of Law's 'Tale: 

This merchants have done, freight their 
ships new. 
( Pr. hold, 

o. \ Past. held. 

v Par. pa. held or holden. 

Exceptions of the time past. 

Some that are of the first conjugation only, have 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 103 

in the participle past, besides their own, the form 
of the second, and the third ; as 

hew, hewed and hewn. 

mow, mowed and mowen. 

load, loaded and loaden* 



* Sidney, Defense of Poesy : "But with none I remember 
mine ears were at any time more loaden." 



CHAPTER XX 

OF THE FOURTH CONJUGATION 

Verbs that convey the time past for the present, 
by the change both of vowels and consonants, fol- 
lowing the terminations of the first conjugation, 
end in d, or t. 

Pr. stand. 

Pa. stood. 
Such are these words, 

Pr. wolle, wolt, wolle. 

Pa. wold or would, wouldest, would. 

Fut. wolle, woll. 

The infinite times are not used. 

Pr. can, canst, can. 

Pa. colde, or could. 

Fut. sholl, sholt, sholl. 

Pa. sholde or should. 
The other /fm^ of either wr& are lacking. 

Pr. hear. 

Pa. heard. 

Pr. jrf/. 

Pa. ^6>W. 

So tell, told. 

Of the other sort are these, and such like. 
Pr. feel. 
Pa. felt. 

104 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 105 

So creep, sleep, weep, keep, sweep, mean, 
Pr. teach. 
Pa. taught. 
To this form belong think, retch, seek, reach, 
catch, bring, work ; and buy and owe, which make 
bought and ought. 

Pr. dare, darest, dare. 
Pa. durst, durst, durst. 
Pr. may, mayst, may. 
Pa. might, might est, might. 
These two verbs want the other times. 
A general exception from the former conjuga- 
tion. Certain verbs have the form of either con- 
jugation; as 

hang, hanged and hung. 
So cleave, shear 3 sting, climb, catch, &c. 



CHAPTER XXI 

OF ADVERBS 

Thus much shall suffice for the etymology of 
words that have number, both in a noun and a 
verb : whereof the former is but short and easy ; 
the other longer, and wrapped with a great deal 
more difficulty. Let us now proceed to the ety- 
mology of words without number. 

A word without number is that which without 
his principal signification noteth not any number. 
Whereof there be two kinds, an adverb and a con- 
junction. 

An adverb is a word without number that is 
joined to another word ; as 

well learned, 
he Ughteth valiantly, 
he disputeth very subtly. 
So that an adverb is as it were an adjective of 
nouns, verbs, yea, and adverbs also themselves. 

Adverbs are either of quantity or quality. Of 
quantity ; as 

enough, too-much, altogether. 

Adverbs of quality be of divers sorts : 

First, of number) as once, twice, thrice. 

Secondly, of time; as to-day, yesterday, 

then, by and by, ever, when. 

1 06 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 107 

Thirdly of place ; as here, there, where, 

yonder. 
Fourthly, in affirmation, or negation, as 
I, or ay, yes, indeed, no, not, nay. 
Fifthly, in wishing, calling, and exhorting: 
Wishing; as O, if. 
Calling; as ho, sirrah. 
Exhorting ; as so, so ; there, there. 
Sixthly, in similitude and likeness ; as 
so, even so, likewise, even as. 
To this place pertaineth all adverbs of quality 
whatsoever, being formed from nouns, for the 
most part, by adding ly ; as 

just, justly ; true, truly ; strong, strongly ; 
name, namely. 
Here also adjectives, as well positive as com- 
pared, stand for adverbs: 

When he least weeneth, soonest shall he fall. 
Interjections, commonly so termed are in right 
adverbs, and therefore may justly lay title to this 
room. Such are these that follow, with their 
like; as 

ah, alas, woe, He, tush, ha, ha, he. 
st, a note of silence : Rr, that serveth to set dogs 
together by the ears ; hrr, to chase birds away. 

Prepositions* are also a peculiar kind of ad- 
verbs, and ought to be referred hither. Preposi- 
tions are separable or inseparable. 

* "Prepositions are so named because they were originally 
prefixed to the verbs to modify its meaning. Many pre- 
positions still retain their adverbial meaning (forswear, 
betime, etc.)." — R. Morris. Hist. Gram., Chap. 12. 



io8 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Separable are for the most part of time and 

place) as 

among, according, without, 
afore, after, before, behind, 
under, upon, beneath, over, 
against, besides, near. 
Inseparable prepositions are they which signify 

nothing, if they be not compounded with some 

other word; as 

re, un in release, unlearned. 



CHAPTER XXII 

OF CONJUNCTIONS 

A conjunction is a word without number, knit- 
ting divers speeches together : and is declaring, or 
reasoning. Declaring, which uttereth the parts 
of a sentence : and that again is gathering, or 
separating. Gathering, whereby the parts are 
affirmed to be true together: which is coupling, or 
conditioning. Coupling, when the parts are sev- 
erally affirmed; as 

and, also, neither. 
Conditioning, by which the part following de- 
pendeth, as true, upon the part going before ; as 
if, unless, except. 
A separating conjunction is that whereby the 
parts (as being not true together) are separated; 
and is 

severing, 

or 
sundring. 
Severing, when the parts are separated only in 
a certain respect or reason; as 

but, although, notwithstanding. 
Sundring, when the parts are separated indeed, 
and truly, so as more than one cannot be true ; as 
either, whether, or. 
Reasoning conjunctions are those which con- 

109 



no THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

elude one of the parts by the other; whereof some 
render a reason, and some do infer. 

Rendering are such as yield the cause of a thing 
going before; as 

for, because. 

Inferring, by which a thing that cometh after 
is concluded by the former ; as 

therefore, wherefore, 
so that, insomuch that. 



The Second Book of the 
English Grammar 

OF SYNTAX 

CHAPTER I 
OF APOSTROPHUS 

As yet we have handled etymology, and all the 
parts thereof. Let us come to the consideration 
of the syntax. 

Syntax is the second part of grammar, that 
teacheth the construction of words; whereunto 
apostrophns* an affection of words coupled and 
joined together, doth belong. 

Apostrophns is the rejecting of a vowel from 
the beginning or ending of a word. The note 
whereof, though it many times, through the 
negligence of writers and printers, is quite omitted, 
yet by right should, and of the learneder sort hath 
his sign and mark, which is such a semi-circle (') 
placed in the top. 

In the end a vowel may be cast away, when the 
word next following beginneth with another; as 

* The Latins and Hebrews have none. (Jonson.) 

in 



ii2 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Th' outward man decay eth; 

So th' inward man getteth strength. 

If y utter such words of pure love, and 

friendship, 
What then may we look for, if y' once begin 

to hate? 
Gower, lib. I. de Confess. Amant. 

If thourt of his company, tell forth, my son, 
It is time f awake from sleep. 

Vowels suffer also this apostrophus before the 
consonant h. 

Chaucer, in the 3rd book of Troilus. 

For of fortune's sharp adversitie, 
The worst kind of infortune is this : 
A man f have been in prosperitie, 
And it to remember when it passed is. 
The first kind then is common with the Greeks ; 
but that which followeth is proper to us, which 
though it be not of any, that I know, either in 
writing or in printing, usually expressed : yet con- 
sidering that in our common speech nothing is 
more familiar (upon the which all precepts are 
grounded, and to the which they ought to be 
referred) who can justly blame me, if, as near as 
I can, I follow nature's call. 

This rejecting, therefore, is both in vowels and 
consonants going before : 

There is no fire, there is no sparke, 
There is no dore, which may charke. 

Gower, lib. iv. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 113 

Who answered, that he zvas not privy to it, and 
in excuse seem'd to be very sore displeased 
with the matter, that his men of war had 
done it, without his commandment or con- 
sent. 



CHAPTER II 

OF THE SYNTAX OF ONE NOUN WITH 
ANOTHER 

Syntax appertaineth both to words of number, 
and without number, where the want and super- 
fluity of any part of speech are two general and 
common exceptions. Of the former kind of syn- 
tax is that of a noun, and verb. 

The syntax of a noun, with a noun, is in number * 
and gender; as 

Esau could not obtain his father's blessing, 

though he sought it with tears. 
Jezebel was a wicked woman, for she slew the 

Lord's prophets. 
An idol is no God, for it is made with hands. 
In all these examples you see Esau and he, 
Jezebel and she, idol and it, do agree in the singular 
number. The first example also in the masculine 
gender, the second in the feminine, the third in 
the neuter. And in this construction (as also 
throughout the whole English syntax) order and 
the placing of words is one special thing to be 
observed. So that when a substantive and an 
adjective are immediately joined together, the 
adjective must go before; as 

Plato shuts poets out of his commonwealth, 
as effeminate zvriters, unprofitable members, 
and enemies to virtue. 
114 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 115 

When two substantives come together, whereof 
one is the name of a possessor, the other of a 
thing possessed, then hath the name of a possessor 
the former place, and that in the genitive: 

All man's righteousness is like a defiled cloth, 
Gower, lib. I : 

An owl Meth by night, 
Out of all other birds' sight. 
But if the thing possessed go before, then doth 
the preposition of come between : 

Ignorance is the mother of Error. 
Gower, lib. 

So that it proveth well therefore 
The strength of man is sone lore. 
Which preposition may be coupled with the 
thing possessed, being in the genitive. 
Nort. in Arsan. 

A road made into Scanderbech's country by 
the Duke of Mysia's men : for, the Duke's 
men of Mysia. 
Here the absolute serveth sometimes instead of 
a genitive: 

All trouble is light, which is endured for 
righteousness sake. 
Otherwise two substantives are joined together 
by apposition. 

Sir Thomas More, in King Richard's story: 
George, Duke of Clarence, was a prince at all 
points fortunate. 
Where if both be the names of possessors, the 
latter shall be in the genitive. 



n6 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Foxe, in the 2d volume of Acts and Monuments: 
King Henry the Eight, married with the Lady 
Katherine his brother. Prince Arthur's wife. 
The general exceptions : 
The substantive is often lacking. 

Sometimes without small things, greater can- 
not stand. 

Sir Thomas More. 
(The verb is also often wanting.) 
Chaucer : 

For some folk woll be won for riches, 
And some folk for strokes, and some folk for 
gentleness : 
Likewise the adjective: 

It is hard in prosperity to preserve true reli- 
gion, true godliness, and trite humility. 
Lidgate, lib. 8, speaking of Constantine, 
That whilome had the divination 
As chief monarch, chief prince, and chief 

president 
Over all the world, from east to Occident. 
But the more notable lack of the adjectives is in 
the want* of relative) 

In the things which we least mistrust, 
the greatest danger doth often lurk. 
Gower, lib. 2 : 

Forthy the wise men ne demen 

The things after that there they semen) 

But, after that, which they know, and find. 

*In Greek and Latin this want were barbarous: the 
Hebrews notwithstanding use it. (Jonson.) 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 117 

Psal. 118, 22. The stone the builders refused) 
for, which the builders refused. 

And here, besides the common wanting of a 
substantive, whereof we spake before: there is 
another more special, and proper to the absolute, 
and the genitive. 

Chaucer, in the 3d book of Fame. 
This is the mother of tidings. 
As the sea is mother of wells, and is mother 

of springs. 
Rebecca clothed Jacob with garments of his 
brothers. 
Superfluity also of nouns is much used : 

Sir Thomas More : Whose death King Edward 
(although he commanded it) zvhen he wist 
it was done, pitiously bewailed it, and sor- 
rowfully repented it. 
Chaucer, in his Prologue to the Man of Law's 
Tale: 

Such law, as a man yeveth another wight, 
He should himself usen it by right. 
Gower, lib. I : 

For, whoso woll another blame, 
He seeketh oft his owne shame. 
Special exceptions, and first of number. Two 
singulars are put for one plural : 

All authority and custom of men, exalted 
against the word of God, must yield them- 
selves prisoners. 



n8 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Gower : 

In thine aspect are all alich, 

The poor man, and eke the rich. 
The second person plural is for reverence sake 
to one singular thing: 
Gower, lib. I : 

O good father deare, 

Why make ye this heavy cheare. 
Where also after a verb plural, the singular of 
the noun is retained: 

/ know you are a discreet and faithful man, 
and therefore am come to ask your advice. 
Exceptions of Genders. 

The articles he and it, are used in each other's 
gender. 

Sir Thomas More: The south wind sometime 
swelleth of himself before a tempest. 
Gower, of the Earth: 

And for thy men it delve, and ditch, 

And earen it, with strength of plough: 

Where it hath of himself enough, 

So that his need is least. 
It also followeth for the feminine: Gower, lib. 4: 

He swore it should nought be let, 

That, if she have a daughter bore, 

That it ne should be forlore. 



CHAPTER III 

OF THE SYNTAX OF A PRONOUN WITH 

A NOUN 

The articles a and the are joined to substantives 
common, never to proper names of men. 

William Lambert in the Perambulation of Kent: 

The cause only, and not the death maketh a 

martyr. 

Yet, with a proper name used by a metaphor, or 

borrowed manner of speech, both articles may be 

coupled : 

Who so avoucheth the manifest and known 
truth, ought not therefore to be called a 
Goliah, that is a monster, and impudent 
fellow, as he was. 
Jewel against Harding: 

You have adventured yourself to be the noble 
David to conquer this giant. 
Nort. in Arsan. 

And if ever it were necessary, now it is, when 
many an Athanasius, many an Atticus, many 
a noble prince, and godly personage lieth 
prostrate at your feet for succor. 
Where this metaphor is expounded. So, when 
the proper name is used to note one's parentage, 
which kind of nouns the grammarians call patro- 
nymics : 

119 



120 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Nort. in Gabriel's Oration to Scanderbech : 
For you know well enough the wiles of the 

Ottomans. 
Perkin Warbeck, a stranger born, feigned 
himself to be a Plantagenet. 
When a substantive and an adjective are joined 
together, these articles are put before the adjective: 
A good conscience is a continual feast. 
Gower, lib. I. 

For false semblant hath evermore 
Of his counsel in company, 
The dark untrue hypocrisy. 
Which construction in the article a, notwith- 
standing, some adjectives will not admit: 
Sir Tho. More : 
Such a serpent is ambition, and desire of 
vain-glory. 
Chaucer : 

Under a shepherd false, and negligent, 
The wolf hath many a sheep and lamb to rent. 
Moreover both these articles are joined to any 
cases of the Latins, the vocative only excepted : as, 
A man saith. The strength of a man. 
I sent to a man. I hurt a man. 
I was sued by a man. 
Likewise, The apostle testiiieth: the zeal of the 
apostle: give ear to the apostle: follow the apostle: 
depart not from the apostle. 

So that in these two pronouns, the whole con- 
struction almost of the Latins is continued. The 
agreeth to any number; a only to the singular, save 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 121 

when it is joined with those adjectives which do 
of necessity require a plural : 

The conscience is a thousand witnesses. 
Lidgate, lib. I : 

Though for a season they sit in high chears, 
Their fame shall fade within a few years. 
A goeth before words beginning with conso- 
nants; and before all vowels (diphthongs, whose 
first letter is y or w, excepted) it is turned into an : 
Sir Thomas More : 

For men use to write an evil turn in marble 
stone\ but a good turn they write in the 
dust. 
Gower, lib. I: 

For all shall die ; and all shall pass 
As well a lion as an ass. 
So may it be also before h. 
Sir Thomas More: 

What mischief zvorketh the proud enter prize 
of an high heart? 
A hath also the force of governing before a 
noun: 

Sir Thomas More : 

And the protecter had layd to her for manner 
sake, that she was a councell with the Lord 
Hastings to destroy him. 
Chaucer, 2nd book of Troilus : 

And on his way fast homeward he sped, 
And Troilus he found alone in bed. 
Likewise before the participle present, a, an, 
have the force of a gerund. 



122 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Nort. in Arsan : 
But there is some great tempest a brewing 
towards us. 
Lidgate, lib. 7: 

The king was slain, and ye did assent, 
In a forest an hunting, when that he went. 
The article the, joined with the adjective of a 
noun proper, may follow after the substantive : 
Chaucer : 

There chanticleer the fair 
Was wont, and eke his wives to repair. 
Otherwise it varieth from the common rule. 
Again, this article by a synecdoche doth restrain 
a general and common name to some certain and 
special one : 

Gower, in his Prologue : 

The Apostle writ eth unto us all, 
And saith, that upon us is fall 
Th' end of the zvorld : 
for Paul. So by the philosopher, Aristotle ; by the 
poet, among the Grecians, Homer; with the Latins 
Virgil, is understood. 

This and that being demonstratives ; and what 
the interrogative, are taken for substantives: 
Sir John Cheeke, in his Oration to the Rebels: 
Ye rise for religion : what religion taught you 
that? 
Chaucer, in the Reve's Tale : 

And this is very sooth, as I you tell. 
Ascham, in his discourse of the affairs of 
Germany : 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 123 

A wonderful folly in a great man himself, and 
some piece of misery in a whole common- 
wealth, where fools chiefly and flatterers, 
may speak freely what they will] and good 
men shall commonly be shent, if they speak 
what they should. 

What, also for an adverb of partition :* 

Lambert : 

But now, in our memory, what by the decay 
of the haven, and what by overthrow of 
religious houses, and loss of Calice, it is 
brought in a manner to miserable nakedness 
and decay. 
Chaucer, 3rd book of Troilus : 

Then wot I well, she might never fail 
For to been holpen, what at your instance, 
What at your other friends governance. 
That is used for a relative : 
Sir John Cheek : 

Sedition is an aposteam, which, when it break- 
eth inwardly, putteth the state in great 
danger of recovery] and corrupteth the 
whole commonwealth with the rotten fury, 
that it hath putrified with. For, with which. 
They, and those, are sometimes taken, as it were, 
for articles : 

Fox, 2nd volume of Acts, &c. 

* In the other tongues, quid, rl have not the force of 
partition, nor illud, c/ccivo, of a relative. (Jonson.) 



124 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

That no kind of disquietness should be pro- 
cured against them of Bern and Zurick.* 
Gower, lib. 2: 

My brother hath us all sold 
To them of Rome. 
The pronoun, these, hath a rare use, being taken 
for an adjective of similitude: It is neither the part 
of an honest man to tell these tales) nor of a wise 
man to receive them. 
Lidgate, lib. 5 : 
Lo, how these princes proud and retchless, 
Have shameful ends, which cannot live in 
peace. 
Him, and them, be used reciprocally for the 
compounds, himself, themselves. 

Fox: The garrison desired that they might de- 
part with bag and baggage. 
Chaucer, in the Squire's Tale: 

So deep in grain he dyed his colours, 
Right as a serpent hideth him under flowers. 
His, their, and theirs, have also a strange use; 
that is to say, being possessives, they serve instead 
of primitives. 

* Comparing Number XVIII of Ben Jonson's Conversa- 
tions with William Drummond of Hawthornden we gain 
the impression that English syntax was still much in the 
process of making and that the use of one form rather 
than another was looked r.pon quite as much as a caprice 
of fashion as due to any grammatical principle. "Ques- 
tioned about English," writes Drummond, "them, they, 
those. They is still the nominative, those accusative, them, 
newter; collective, not them men, them trees, but them 
by itself referred to many. Which, who, the relatives, not 
that. Floods, hills he would have masculines." 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 125 

Chaucer : 

And shortly so far forth this thing went, 
That my will was his will's instrument. 
Which in Latin were a solecism : for there we 
should not say, suae voluntatis, but voluntatis 
ipsius. 

Pronouns have not the articles, a and the, going 
before; which, the relative, self, and same only 
excepted: The same lewd cancred carle practiseth 
nothing, but how he may overcome and oppress 
the faith of Christ, for the which, you, as you 
know, have determined to labour and travel con- 
tinually. 

The possessives, my, thy, our, your, and their, 
go before words: as my land, thy goods; and so in 
the rest: mine, thine, ours, yours, hers, and theirs, 
follow as it were in the genitive case; as, these 
lands are mine, thine, &c. 

His doth infinitely go before, or follow after: 
as, his house is a fair one ; and, this house is his. 



CHAPTER IV 

OF THE SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES 

Adjectives of quality are coupled with pronouns 
accusative cases. 
Chaucer : 
And he was wise, hardy, secret, and rich, 
Of these three points, nas none him lych. 
Certain adjectives include a partition: From the 
head doth life and motion flow to the rest of the 
members. 

The comparative agreeth to the parts compared, 
by adding this preposition, than.* 
Chaucer, 3rd book of Fame: 
What did this Mollis, but he 
Took out his black trump of brass 
That blacker than the divel was. 
The superlative is joined to the parts compared 
by this preposition of. 
Gower, lib. I : 

Pride is of every miss the prick : 
Pride is the worst vice of all wick. 
Jewel : 

The friendship of truth is best of all. 
Oftentimes both degrees are expressed by these 

* The Latins comparative governeth an ablative ; their 
superlative a genitive plural. The Greeks both compara- 
tive and superlative hath a genitive ; but in neither tongue 
13 a sign going between. (Jonson.) 

126 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 127 

two adverbs, more, and most: as more excellent, 
most excellent. Whereof the latter seemeth to 
have his proper place in those that are spoken in 
a certain kind of excellency, but yet without com- 
parison : Hector was a most valiant man ; that is, 
inter fortissimos. 

Furthermore, these adverbs, more and most, are 
added to the comparative and superlative degrees 
themselves, which should be before the positive: 
Sir Thomas More : 

Forasmuch as she saw the cardinal more 
readier to depart than the remnant ; for not 
only the high dignity of the civil magistrate, 
but the most basest handicrafts are holy, 
when they are directed to the honour of 
. God, 
And this is a certain kind of English Atticism, 
or eloquent phrase of speech, imitating the man- 
ner of the most ancientest and finest Grecians, who, 
for more emphasis and vehemencies sake, used so 
to speak. 

Positives are also joined with the preposition of, 
like the superlative : 

Elias was the only man of all the prophets that 
was left alive. 
Gower, lib. 4: 

The first point of sloth I call 
Lachesse, and is the chief of all. 



CHAPTER V 

OF THE SYNTAX OF A VERB WITH 

i A NOUN 

Hitherto we have declared the syntax of a noun: 
the syntax of a verb followeth, being either of a 
verb with a noun, or of one verb with another. 

The syntax of a wr& with a n<?zw is in number 
and person) as 

/ am content. You are mis-informed. 

Chaucer's 2nd book of Fame: 
For, as flame is but lighted smoke ; 
Right so is sound ayr ybroke. 

I, myself, and ourselves, agree unto the first 
person : thou, you, ye, thyself, yourselves, the sec- 
ond: all other nouns and pronouns (that are of any 
person) to the third. Again, /, zve, thou, he, she, 
they, who, do ever govern ; unless it be in the verb 
am, that requireth the like case after it as is be- 
fore it. Me, us, thee, her, them, him, whom, are 
governed of the verb. The rest, which are abso- 
lute, may either govern, or be governed. 

A verb impersonal in Latin is here expressed by 
an English impersonal, with this article it going be- 
fore; as oportet, it behoveth; decet, it becometh. 
General exceptions : 

The person governing is oft understood by that 
went before: True religion glorifieth them that 

128 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 129 

honour it; and is a target unto them that are a 
buckler unto it. 
Chaucer : 

W omens counsels brought us first to woe, 
And made Adam from Paradise to go. 
But this is more notable, and also more common 
in the future ; wherein for the most part we never 
express any person, not so much as at the first: 
Fear God. Honour the king. 

Likewise the verb is understood by some other 
going before : 
Nort. in Arsan. 

When the danger is most great, natural 
strength most feeble, and divine aid most 
needful. 

Certain pronouns, governed by the verb, do here 
abound. 

Sir Thomas More: 
And this I say although they were not abused, 
as now they be, and so long have been, that 
I fear me ever they will be. 
Chaucer, 3rd book of Fame: 
And as I wondred me, ywis 
Upon this house. 

Idem in Thisbe: 

She rist her up with a full dreary heart : 
And in cave with dreadful fate she start. 

Special exceptions. 

Nouns signifying a multitude, though they be of 
the singular number, require a verb plural. 
9 



130 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Lidgate, lib. 2 : 

And wise men rehearsen in sentence 
Where folk be drunken, there is no resistance. 
This exception is in other nouns also very com- 
mon; especially when the verb is joined to an ad- 
verb or conjunction: It is preposterous to execute 
a man, before he have been condemned. 
Gower, lib. I : 
Although a man be wise himselve, 
Yet is the wisdom more of twelve. 
Chaucer : 

Therefore I read you this counsel take, 
Forsake sin, ere sin you forsake. 
In this exception of number, the verb sometime 
agreeth not with the governing noun of the plural 
number, as it should, but with the noun governed : 
as Riches is a thing oft-times more hurtful than 
profitable to the owners. After which manner the 
Latins also speak: Omnis pontus erat. The other, 
special exception is not in use.* 

* Which notwithstanding the Hebrews use very strangely : 
Kullain tazubu uboiina, Job xvii, 10. All they return ye 
and come now. (Jonson.) 



CHAPTER VI 

OF THE SYNTAX OF A VERB WITH 
A VERB 

When two verbs meet together, whereof one is 
governed by the other, the latter is put in the in- 
finite, and that with this sign to, coming between; 
as, Good men ought to join together in good 
things. 

But will, do, may, can, shall, dare (when it is in 
transitive), must and let, when it signifieth a suf- 
ferance, receive not the sign. 
Gower : 

To God no man may be fellow. 
This sign set before an infinite, not governed of 
a verb, changeth it into the nature of a noun. 
Nort. in Arsan. 

To win is the benefit of fortune : but to keep 
is the power of wisdom. 
General exceptions. 
The verb governing is understood : 
Nort. in Arsan: 

For if the head, which is the life and stay of 
the body, betray the members, must not the 
members, also needs betray one another; 
and so the whole body and head go alto- 
gether to utter wreck and destruction} 
131 



132 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

The other general exception is wanting.* 

The special exception. Two verbs, have and 
am, require always a participle past without any 
sign : as / am pleased ; thoit art hated. Save when 
they import a necessity or conveniency of doing 
anything: in which case they are very eloquently 
joined to the infinite,^ the sign coming between : 
By the example of Herod, all princes are to 
take heed how they give ear to flatterers. 

Lidgate, lib. I : 

Truth and falseness in what they have done, 
May no while assemble in one person. 

And here those times which in etymology we 
remembered to be wanting, are set forth by the 
syntax of verbs joined together. The syntax of 
imperfect times in this manner. 

The presents by the infinite, and the verb, may, 
or can; as for amem, amarem; I may love, I 
might love. And again; / can love, I could love. 

The futures are declared by the infinite, and the 
verb shall, or will) as amabo, I shall or will love.% 

* So in the Greek and Latin, but in Hebrew this excep- 
tion is often, Esai. vi. 9; which Hebraism the New Testa- 
ment is wont to retain by turning the Hebrew infinite 
either into a verbal SlkOyJ aKowere, Matth. xiii. 14; or par- 
ticiple, 28<oi/ ci'Sov. Act vii. 34. (Jonson.) 

t A phrase proper unto our tongue, save that the 
Hebrews seem to have the former. Job xx : 23. When 
he is to iill his belly. (Jonson.) 

t Jonson makes apparently no distinction of person be- 
tween shall and will, giving both indifferently as forming 
the future when joined to "the infinite," "amabo, I shall 
or will love." According to the investigations of Professor 
Blackburn (F. A. Blackburn, Leipzig, 1892, The English 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 133 

Amavero addeth thereunto have, taking the 
nature of two divers times) that is, of the future 
and the time past. 

I shall have loved : or 
/ will have loved. 
The perfect times are expressed by the verb 
have ;* as 

Amavi, amaveram. 
I have loved, I had loved. 
Amaverim and amavissem add might unto the 
former verb ; as 

/ might have loved. 
The infinite past is also made by adding have; as 
amavisse, to have loved. 



Future, Its Origin and Development) in Shakespeare's 
Tempest the simple future is expressed by 

1st person shall 16 times, will 3 times. 

26. person shall 5 times, will 2 times. 

3d person shall 15 times, will 16 times. 
In promises and threats : 

1st person shall o times, will 72 times. 

2d person shall 12 times, will o times. 

3d person shall 12 times, will o times. 
So that our present usage would seem to be forming in 
the very time when Jonson notes no distinction between 
shall and will. To quote further from Professor Black- 
burn, "Milton's Areopagitica shows a very wise use of 
tnese words, quite in their modern sense." "Modern usage 
was practically established in the middle of the 17th 
century." And yet Ben Jonson's grammar was pub- 
lished in 1640. 

* This limitation of the auxiliary of the perfect to have, 
ignores the frequent use of the verb to be as an auxiliary 
with intransitive verbs. 

"A crew of patches, rude mechanicals, 

Were met together to rehearse a play." M.N.D. III. 2. 
"And are you grown so high in his esteem?" M.N.D. III. 2. 
"Already to their wormy beds are gone." M.N.D. III. 2. 



i 3 4 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Verbs passive are made of the participle past, 
and am the verb) amor and amabar, by the only 
putting to of the verb ; as 

amor, I am loved', 
amabar, I was loved. 
Amer and amarer have it governed of the verb 
may or can; as 

Amer, I may be loved ; or / can be loved. 
Amarer, I might be loved) or I could be loved. 
In amabor it is governed of shall, or will', as 
/ shall, or w// be loved. 



CHAPTER VII 
OF THE SYNTAX OF ADVERBS 

This therefore is the syntax of words, having 
number; there remaineth that of words without 
number, which standeth in adverbs or conjunctions. 
Adverbs are taken one for the other ; that is to 
say, adverbs of likeness, for adverbs of time ; As 
he spoke those zvords, he gave up the ghost. 

Gower, lib. I : 

Anone, as he was meek and tame, 
He found tozvards his God the same. 

The like is to be seen in adverbs of time and 
place, used in each others stead, as among the 
Latins and the Grecians. 

Nort. in Arsan. 

Let us not be ashamed to follow the counsel 
and example of our enemies, where it may 
do us good. 
Adverbs stand instead of relatives. 
Lidgate, lib. I: 

And little worth is fairness in certain 
In a person, where no virtue is seen. 
Nort. to the northern rebels : 

Few women storm against the marriage of 
priests, but such as have been priests har- 
lots, or fain would be. 
i35 



136 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Chaucer in his ballad: 
But great God disposeth, 
And maketh casual by his providence 
Such things as frail man purposeth. 
For those things, which. 

Certain adverbs in the syntax of a substantive 
and an adjective meeting together, cause a, the 
article, to follow the adjective. 
Sir John Cheek : 

01 with what spite was sundred so noble a 
body from so godly a mind. 
Jewel : 

It is too light a labour to strive for names. 
Chaucer : 

Thou art at ease, and hold thee well therein. 
As great a praise is to keep well, as win. 
Adjectives compared,* when they are used 
adverbially, may have the article the going before. 
Jewel : 

The more enlarged is your liberty, the less 
cause have you to complain. 
Adverbs are wanting. 
Sir Thomas More: 

And how far be they off that would help, as 

God send grace, they hurt not) for, that 

they hurt not. 

Oftentimes they are used without any necessity, 

for greater vehemency sake; as, then — afterward] 

again, once more. 

* The Greek article is set before the positive also : Theo- 
crit, €18. y, TiVvp', i/xlv to kglXov irepiAafxevrj . (Jonson.) 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 137 

Gower : 

He saw also the bowes spread 

Above all earth, in which were 

The kind of all birds there. 

Prepositions are joined with the accusative 

cases of pronouns* 

Sir Thomas More : 

/ exhort and require you, for the love that you 

have borne to me, and for the love that I 

have borne to you, and for the love that our 

Lord beareth to us all. 

Gower, lib. I : 

For Lucifer, with them that fell, 

Bare pride with him into hell. 

They may also be coupled with the possessives: 

mine, thine, ours, yours, his, hers, theirs. 

Nort. to the rebels : 

Think you her majesty, and the wisest of the 

realm, have no care of their own souls, that 

have charge both of their own and yours? 

These prepositions follow** sometimes the 

nouns they are coupled with : God hath made 

princes their subjects guides, to direct them in the 

way, which they have to walk in. 

But ward, or wards; and toward, or towards, 

have the same syntax that versus and advcrsus 

have with the Latins ; that is, the latter coming 

after the nouns, which it governeth, and the other 

contrarily. 

* In Greek and Latin they are coupled ; some with one 
oblique case, some with another. (Jonson.) 

** The Hebrews set them always before. (Jonson.) 



138 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

Nort. in Paul Angel's Oration to Scanderbech: 
For his heart being unclean to God-ward, and 
spiteful towards men, doth always imagine 
mischief. 
Lidgate, lib. 7: 

And south-ward runneth to Caucasus, 
And folk of Scythie, that bene laborious. 
Now as before in two articles a and the, the 
whole construction of the Latins was contained; 
so their whole rection 1 is by prepositions near- 
hand declared : where the preposition of hath the 
force of the genitive, to of the dative; from, of, 
in, by, and such like of the ablative : as, the praise 
of God. Be thankful to God. Take the cock of 
the hoop. I was saved from you, by you, in your 
house. 

Prepositions matched with the participle pres- 
ent* supply the place of gerunds) as in. loving, of 
loving, by loving, with loving, from loving, &c, 
Prepositions do also govern adverbs.** 
Lidgate, lib. 9: 

Sent from above, as she did understand. 
General exceptions : divers prepositions are very 
often wanting, whereof it shall be sufficient to give 

Section, New English Dictionary, is a rare grammatical 
form from rectionem, meaning syntactical government. 

* The like nature in Greek and Hebrew have preposu 
tions matched with the infinite, as iv t<3 dya7rav. (Jonson.) 

** This in Hebrew is very common: from novo, that is, 
from this time ; whence proceed those Hebraisms in the 
New Testament, cbrd TOTtfiiro rov vvv . (Jonson.) 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 139 

a taste in those that above the rest are most worthy 
to be noted. 

Of, in an adjective of partition: 
Lidgate, lib. 5 : 

His lieges eche one being of one assent 
To live and die with him in his intent. 
The preposition touching, concerning, or some 
such like, doth often want, after the manner of 
the Hebrew Lamed: 
Gower : 

The privates of man's heart, 
They speaken, and sound in his ear, 
As though they loud winds were. 
Riches and inheritance they be given by God's 
providence, to whom of his wisdom he thinketh 
good: for touching riches and heritance, or some 
such like preposition. 
If, is somewhat strangely lacking: 
Nort. in Arsan. 

Unwise are they that end their matters with, 
Had I wist. 
Lidgate, lib. I : 

For ne were not this prudent ordinance, 
Some to obey, and above to gye 
Destroyed were all worldly policy. 
The superfluity of prepositions is more rare : 
Jewel : 

The whole university and city of Oxford. 
Gower : 

So that my lord touchend of this. 
I have answered, how that it is. 



CHAPTER VIII 

OF THE SYNTAX OF CONJUNCTIONS 

The syntax of conjunctions is in order only; 
neither and either are placed in the beginning of 
words; nor and or coming after. 
Sir Thomas More : 

He can be no sanctuary-man, that hath neither 
discretion to desire it, nor malice to deserve 
it. 
Sir John Cheek : 

Either by ambition you seek lordliness, much 
unfit for you ; or by covetousness, ye be in- 
satiable, a thing likely enough in you, or 
else by folly, ye be not content zvith your 
estate, a fancy to be pluckt out of you. 
Lidgate, lib. 2: 

Wrong, clyming up of states and degrees, 
Either by murder, or by false treasons 
Asketh a fall, for their finall guerdons. 
Here, for nor in the latter member, ne is some- 
times used: 
Lambert : 

But the archbishop set himself against it, 

affirming plainly, that he neither could, ne 

would suffer it. 

The like syntax is also to be marked in so, and 

as, used comparatively ; for when the comparison 

140 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 141 

is in quantity, then so goeth before, and as fol- 

loweth. 

Ascham : 

He hateth himself, and hasteth his own hurt, 
that is content to hear none so gladly as 
either a fool or a flatterer. 

Gower, lib. I : 

Men wist in thilk time none 

So fair a wight, as she was one. 
Sometime for so, as cometh in. 
Chaucer, lib. 5, Troil. 

And said, I am, albeit to you no joy, 

As gentle a man as any wight in Troy. 
But if the comparison be in quality, then it is 
contrary. 
Gower : 

For, as the fish, if it be dry 

Mote in default of water dye : 

Right so without air, or live, 

No man, ne beast, might thrive. 
And, in the beginning of a sentence, serveth 
instead of an admiration : And, what a notable 
sign of patience was it in Job, not to murmur 
against the Lord! 

Chaucer, 3rd book of Fame: 

What, quoth she, and be ye wood I 

And, wene ye for to do good, 

And, for to have of that no famel 
Conjunctions of divers sorts are taken one for 



142 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

another :* as But, a severing conjunction, for a 
conditioning : 

Chaucer in the Man of Law's Tale : 

But it were with the ilk eyen of his mind, 
With zvhich men seen' after they ben blind. 
Sir Thomas More: 

Which neither can they have, but you give it ; 
neither can you give it, if ye agree not. 
The self-same syntax is in and, the coupling con- 
junction. 

The Lord Berners in the Preface to his Transla- 
tion of Froisart: 

What knowledge should we have of ancient 
things past, and history were not. 
Sir John Cheek: 

Ye have waxed greedy now upon cities, and 
have attempted mighty spoils, to glut up, 
and you could your wasting hunger. 
On the other side, for, a cause-renderer, hath 
sometimes the force of a severing one. 
Lidgate, lib. 3 : 

But it may fall a Drewry in his right, 
To outrage a giant for all his great might. 
Here the two general exceptions are termed, 
Asyndeton, and Polysyndeton. 

Asyndeton, when the conjunction wanteth : 
The universities of Christendom are the eyes, 

*"An it shall please you to break up this, it shall seem 
to signify." M.V. I. 4. 

"He will, an if he live to be a man." M.V. V. 1. 

"As one come not within another's way." M.N.D. III. 2. 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 143 

the lights, the leaven, the salt, the seasoning 
of the world. 
Gower : 

To whom her heart cannot heal, 
Turn it to woe, turn it to weal. 
Here the sundering conjunction, or, is lacking, 
and in the former example and, the coupler. 

Polysyndeton is in doubling the conjunction 
more than it need to be : 
Gower, lib. 4: 

So, whether that he frieze, or sweat, 
Or 'tte be in, or 'tte be out, 
He will be idle all about. 



CHAPTER IX 
OF THE DISTINCTION OF SENTENCES 

All the parts of Syntax have already been de- 
clared. There resteth one general affection of the 
whole, dispersed thorough every member thereof, 
as the blood is thorough the body; and consisteth 
in the breathing, when we pronounce any sentence. 
For, whereas our breath is by nature so short, that 
we cannot continue without a stay to speak long 
together; it was thought necessary as well for the 
speaker's ease, as for the plainer deliverance of 
the things spoken, to invent this means, whereby 
men pausing a pretty while, the whole speech 
might never the worse be understood. 

These distinctions are either of a perfect or im- 
perfect sentence. The distinctions of an imper- 
fect sentence are two, a sub distinction and a comma. 

A subdistinction is a mean breathing, when the 
word serveth indifferently, both to the parts of the 
sentence going before and following after, and is 
marked thus ( ;). 

A comma is a distinction of an imperfect sen- 
tence, wherein with somewhat a longer breath, the 
sentence following is included; and is noted with 
this shorter semicircle (,). 

Hither pertaineth a parenthesis, wherein two 
commas include a sentence : 

144 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 145 

Jewel : , , 

Certain falshoods (by mean of good utter- 
ance) have sometimes more hkelyhood of 
truth thhn truth itself. 
Gower, lib. I : 

Division (the gospel saith), 
One house upon another laith. 
Chaucer, 3rd book of Fame: 
For time ylost (this know ye) 
By no way may recovered be. 
, These imperfect distinctions in the syntax of a 
substantive and an adjective, give the former place 
to the substantive ; 

A ^cham * 
Thus the poor gentleman suffered grief ; great 
for the pain; but greater for the spite. 
Gower, lib. 2. Speaking of the envious person: 
Though he a man see vertuous, 
And full of good condition : 
Thereof maketh he no mention. 
The distinction of a perfect sentence hath a more 
full stay, and doth rest the spirit, which is a pause 
or a period. 

A pause is a distinction of a sentence, though 
perfect in itself, yet joined to another, being 
marked with two pricks (:). 

\ period is the distinction of a sentence m all 
rejects perfect, and is marked with one full prick 
ove'r against the lower part of the last letter, thus 



10 



146 THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 

If a sentence be with an interrogation, we use 
this note ( ?). 
Sir John Cheek: 

Who can perswade, where treason is above 
reason ; and might ruleth right ; and it is had 
for lawful whatsoever is lustful) and com- 
motioners are better than commissioners) 
and common woe is named commonwealth? 
Chaucer, 2nd book of Fame: 
Loe, is it not a great mischance, 
To let a fool have governance 
Of things that he cannot demain? 
Lidgate, lib. I : 

For, if wives be found variable, 
Where shall husbands find other stable} 
If it be pronounced with an admiration, then 
thus (!). 

Sir Thomas More: 

O Lord God, the blindness of our mortal 
nature ! 
Chaucer, ist book of Fame: 
Alas\ what harm doth apparence, 
When it is false in existence ! 
These distinctions (whereof the first is com- 
monly neglected), as they best agree with nature, 
so come they nearest to the ancient stays of sen- 
tences among the Romans and the Grecians. An 
example of all four, to make the matter plain, let 
us take out of that excellent oration of Sir John 
Cheek against the rebels, whereof before we have 
made so often mention: 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 147 

When common order of the law can take no 
place in unruly and disobedient subjects) 
and all men will of wilfulness resist with 
rage, and think their own violence to be the 
best justice: then be zvise magistrates com- 
pelled by necessity to seek an extreme 
remedy, where mean salves help not, and 
bring in the martial law where none other 
law serveth. 



y 



BEN JONSON'S AUTHORITIES 

Terentianus Maurus, a Roman writer on Grammar 
and Metres of the second century, a.d. A 
poem of his is extant entitled, De Litteris, 
Syllabis, Pedibus, Metris. 

M. Terentianus Varro Reatinus, second century, 
B.C., was called "most learned of the Romans/' 
He was a very voluminous writer, some six 
hundred volumes are attributed to him. His 
De Lingua Latina was a grammatical treatise 
which extended to twenty-four books. Only 
V-X are preserved, and those in a mutilated 
condition. This fragment is accounted valu- 
able, quoting from many Latin poets whose 
works have perished, and thus preserving 
terms and forms that would otherwise have 
been lost. 

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, of the first century, 
B.C. He came to Italy 29 b.c. He wrote 
chiefly on Roman antiquities ; the works here 
referred to are from his rhetoric. 

Quinctilian, Marcus Fabius, born 35 a.d. in Spain. 
He became a teacher and rhetorician in Rome. 
His Institutio Oratoria is a treatise on Educa- 
tion, as all education should tend toward ora- 
tory. His Latin ranks with that of Cicero, 
and his critical statements are sound. 

148 



THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR 149 

Martianus, M. F. Capella, was born in Africa in 
the fifth century, a.d. His Satyra in nine 
books treats of grammar and was much used 
in schools in the Middle Ages. The text, being 
often copied, is said to be corrupt. 

Priscianus. A Latin Grammarian of the sixth 
century, a.d., was a teacher of the Latin 
Language in Constantinople. His work was 
much used as a school book in the Middle Ages. 

Scaliger, Julius Caesar, was born in 1484 of the 
noble Italian family della Scala. His gram- 
mar, de Cansis Linguae Latinae, in thirteen 
books, is of historical value. 

Ramus, Petrus, or Pierre de la Ramee, was a dis- 
tinguished French logician and philosopher, 
the forerunner of Descartes, 15 15-1572. 

Smithus. Sir Thomas Smith, an Englishman 
who published in 1568 De recta et emend at a 
linguae anglicae scriptione, dialogus Paris. 



